About 3,000 species of soft-bodied sea slugs that shed their shell after the larval stage, many of them in startling colours. They live in seas worldwide, from the Arctic to Antarctica and from the shore to deep water, and every known species is a carnivore.
Quick answers
What is it?Mollusc
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inOceans
HabitatCoast, Open ocean
ColoursBlue, Orange, Pink
SizeTiny
Length4 mm to 60 cm
LegsNone
Covered inSkin
Lives alone
Lives for1 year
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Seas worldwide, from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean; most diverse on warm, shallow reefs. One species lives near 2,500 m down.
- What it eats
- Sponges, hydroids, bryozoans, sea squirts, barnacles, anemones or other sea slugs, depending on the species.
Did you know
Some eat stinging hydroids and keep the unfired stingers in their own backs for defence.
Each one is both male and female, but it cannot fertilise itself.
Glaucus nudibranchs float upside down at the surface and prey on the Portuguese man o' war.
Often confused with
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