A global community of nature enthusiasts
photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Melibe leonina
This amazing Nudibranch is also known as Lion's mane nudibranch, it is a species of predatory sea slug, specifically a nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Tethydidae.
Found on eelgrass and other seaweeds near low tide and below, and in kelp forest in deeper water.
They are carnivorous and hunts for food, while attached to grasses, by extending its oral hood out and downward like a net. When the ventral surface of the hood contacts a small animal, the hood rapidly closes and the fringing tentacles overlap, holding in the prey then forcing the whole animal into the mouth. Prey include amphipods, copepods, mysids, other small crustaceans, small mollusks, small jellyfish and ctenophores, larvae of other invertebrates and in some cases small fish.
Spotted on Nov 9, 2013
Submitted on Nov 10, 2013
43 Comments (1–25)
Thanks Maria and Adarsha.
Congratulations; very cool spotting!
Congratulations Arya! Lovely..
Thank you Luis. It's a fascinating creature and I'm lucky to have gotten SOTD. There were some amazing spottings the last few days!
Congrats Arya! Wonderful SOTD!
Thanks Carol and Scott. Scott thanks for moving it to other for me! Wasn't sure.
Congratulations on a great Spotting of the Day! (I moved your spotting from fish to the "other" category.)
This is very amazing. Congratulations on Spot of the Day!
Thanks all! António, I agree, nudibranchs do come in amazing colors, patterns, and shapes!
Great spotting! I have to research more about these interesting and bizarre creatures.
Amazing........congratulations Arya
Unusual marine organism!
Great capture Arya,very cool organism,nudibranchs are amazing in collours and in shapes,like this gorgeous one,congrats on the SOTD and thanks for sharing
Thank you all for the kind comments. Especially all those who I have been meeting these last few weeks. and Nathan, thanks for the ID!
Great to see this got spotting of the day. :)
Great spotting, Arya. A well deserved SOTD - Congratulations ! Also, thanks for the information.
Congratulations ! Amazing spotting ! :)
Arya, congratulations, it is very unique! :)
Congratulations !
Congrats on this amazing spotting!
wow!!!! great spotting congratulations Arya .....
Congrats Arya!!!
Congrats on your spotting!
I'd like to invite you to join the Mollusca mission and submit your nudibranch (and other mollusk) spottings there.
Beautiful and interesting!
What a crazy animal. Thanks for the description and congratulations!