Nudibranchs

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Nudibranchs
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Nudribranchia
Kingdom Animalia Phylum Mollusca Class
Gastropoda Order Opisthobranchia Suborder
Nudibranchia

• Their scientific name, Nudibranchia, means naked
  gills, and describes the feathery gills and horns
  that most wear on their backs.

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Image Is Everything
Nudibranchs are colorful little animals. They
come in lots of different shapes and sizes. Some
nudibranchs are yellow, some are orange and some
are yellow with dark brown blotches. Nudibranchs
are usually small. They can grow from less than
half an inch to almost two feet. Spotted
nudibranchs and clown nudibranchs grow up to
eight centimeters long, but the sea lemon can,
very rarely, grow up to twenty inches long. Some
have two horned tentacles (rhinophores) on their
head, others a feathery gills on their back, most
are brightly colored though some blend into their
environment.
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Home Sweet Home
Nudibranchs can live in all depths of salt
water, but reach their greatest size and
variation in warm, shallow waters.
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Im A Carnivore !

• Nudibranchs are carnivorous, meaning that they
  eat other small animals.
• As they glide around, they feed on all sorts of
  creatures (hydroids, tunicates, sponges,
  anemones, and barnacles.
• Sometimes they will even eat other nudibranchs.
• They have a hard, toothed feeding structure
  called a radula inside their mouth that helps
  them crunch up food.
• Often they take on the color of their preferred
  prey, such as
• brightly colored sponges.

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Lets Talk Bout Sex Bay-Bee!

• Nudibranchs have both male and female
  reproductive organs.
• Even though they do, they rarely fertilize
  themselves.

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sPeCial aDaptAtiOns

• They store the toxins eaten in their own bodies
  and then use it as a defense mechanism to fight
  off predators.
• Nudibranchs can change color to blend in with
  their prey and to hide from predators.