#NOT ALL SEA SLUGS ARE NUDIBRANCHS

[notebook-enthusiast]

I need to rant to someone about the taxonomy of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs

[deedra-posting]

Ah yes, the average friend group: elbow squid, paranormal jelly and itty bitty sea slug. Hold on zoom in on the slug, I can't see it

There we go. I'm pretty sure these are my favourite sea creatures... They attend a silly oceanic college. Underdogs with no friends coming together. I might draw more of this concept in the future

Let me introduce them real quick

Lenny the bigfin squid (Magnapinna atlantica), he/they. Most awkward and shy guy around, gets bullied quite a lot and can't defend themself for the life of him

Pipi the Willan's chromodoris (Chromodoris willani), they/them. Very quiet and asocial, takes no bullshit by anybody, defending Lenny by their bullies every single time

Phanny the phantom jellyfish (Stygiomedusa gigantea), she/they. A weird aura surrounds them... Nobody wants to be on their bad side, though she's never been seen angry. Turns out she's just the local goth

[bramblekiss]

nudibranch appreciation <3 

[sharkbeneaththelotus]

Wet beast Wednesday (dry edition)

[770811]

[sluggybunny]

everyone associating me with the great & mighty umiushi....

^ that is LITERALLY me

[kazenorth]

Behold! One of my largest projects to date! I'm hoping to have these as textured prints soon.

My love for nudibranchs knows no bounds 🌊 Also the top text has been changed to "Sea Slugs" as I was informed that a few of these are not a part of that order at all, but still fall under the "Sea Slug" umbrella!

[rassicas]

Another excerpt from that Splatoon dev interview from a rare 2017 Nintendo dream issue, with some never before seen information. This one's. Interesting. Translation under the cut.

Q: What kind of sea slug is Flow based on? Inoue: Her coloration is based on what's called a cinderella sea slug* [[Hypselodoris apolegma]]. Traits from various other species of nudibranches were incorporated into her design. --- Nudibranches are hermaphroditic, so is Flow female? Male?

Inoue: Well...this magazine is called "Nintendo dream", so leave that to your fantasies (laughs). Nogami: After all, the Inklings can also freely change between girl and boy.**

*[[This species of nudibranch doesn't seem to have a common name in English. This is just a direct translation of the common name in JP.]]

**[[I chose this phrasing of "girl and boy" in reference to the player settings screen in s1 and s2, as that seems to be what Nogami is referencing.]]

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Mollusca

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

The second largest phylum, Mollusca contains over 76,000 living species and somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 extinct species, including the ammonites and helcionelloids. Living groups include the chitons, solenogasters, caudofoveates, cephalopods (octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, nautiloids, etc.), scaphopods, gastropods (slugs and snails), and bivalves.

Molluscs are highly diverse, living on land, in freshwater, and in saltwater, where they comprise over 23% of all named marine organisms. The most diverse molluscs are the gastropods which comprise over 80% of known molluscs. Due to their high diversity, the only things most molluscs have in common are a soft body composed almost entirely of muscle, a mantle with a significant cavity used for breathing and excretion, the presence of a radula (bivalves excluded), and the structure of their nervous system.

Many molluscs are endangered due to collecting and killing individuals for their meat and/or decorative shells.

Propaganda under the cut:

Cephalopods are one of the (if not the) most neurologically advanced of all invertebrates and are capable of using tools, solving puzzles, and play.

Masters of camouflage, many cephalopods can change color, shape, and texture to hide from predators, sneak up on prey, and communicate with each other

The largest molluscs are the Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux), with 12–13 m (39–43 ft) long females and 10 m (33 ft) long males, and the Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) which is estimated between 10 m (33 ft) and 14 m (46 ft) long. The Giant Squid has much longer tentacles, but the Colossal Squid is heavier, reaching a mass of at least 495 kilograms (1,091 lb). The largest specimens of Colossal Squid, known only from beaks found in sperm whale stomachs, may perhaps weigh as much as 600–700 kg (1,300–1,500 lb).

Mollusc shells make up most of the “seashells” washed ashore, and are created by the animal via secretions of chitin and conchiolin from its mantle edge. Not all molluscs have shells (ex: nudibranchs) and for some, the shell is internal (ex: cuttlefish). Mollusc shells come in many beautiful colors, shapes, and sizes.

Most molluscs have eyes, and all have sensors to detect chemicals, vibrations, and touch. Of the phyla we have covered so far, their senses are the most developed.

Conchs can look at you like this:

(Source)

All cone snails are venomous, and some of the larger species are some of the most venomous animals in the world. Even though some species’ stings are fatal to humans, their sophisticated venom has saved lives through its use in neurological research.

Humans don’t just use mollusk meat and shells, but also luxuries like pearls, mother of pearl, Tyrian purple dye, and sea silk. As stated above, many species are now endangered due to human use, but some are farmed for their meat, pearls, and shells. The farming of bivalves is more ecologically-friendly than the farming of chordates as, rather than create waste, bivalves like mussels and oysters actually clean the water.

As filter-feeders, bivalves are natural water filters. A single 5.08 cm (2 inch) clam can filter up to 10-12 gallons of seawater a day. They can even filter microplastics out of polluted water.

The largest bivalve is the Giant Clam (Tridacna gigas) which can weigh over 200 kilograms (440 lb), measure as much as 120 cm (3.11 ft) across, and have an average lifespan in the wild of more than 100 years.

Cover your ears, kids. Terrestrial slugs, which are hermaphroditic, have some of the most intimate sex on the planet. A pair of slugs will suspend from a chord of mucus, heads down, and intertwine their bodies in a tight spiral. They will then evert their penuses and entwine them as well, exchanging sperm while hanging in midair. Slug porn, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, for your viewing pleasure.

[maple-seed]

It's 100% free and legal to google photos of sea slugs.

Hey, haha, for some reason everybody seems kinda stressed today.

Let's try to eke out a teeny amount of peace for ourselves. Here are some things that might help you regain a little bit of calm. Please feel free to reblog and add your own relaxing suggestions.

mynoise.net

Amazing website for white noise, with features that let you highly customize what you're hearing. Want to listen to a forest? A waterfall? A cafe? I highly recommend the Japanese Garden to relax and I use Distant Thunder to sleep at night. Consider donating, you can donate as little as $1 and get access to ALL the site's extensive features forever.

Lofi Girl

Chill background music. They have several live streams and even more video compilations based around different themes and moods. There are lots of Lofi channels out there, others will pop in your recommended videos, this is just the one I use most often.

Artificer

Full confession, I haven't played it yet but I found this while looking for cozy games and it looks adorable and I love the music and art already.

A couple pointless browser games for playing with color and light:

Neon Flames

Liquid Simulation

Silk

Again, please reblog with any relaxing suggestions, we can use every resource we can get.

Okay everybody, get your hot drink of choice (or a cold drink, I'm not the boss of you), settle in, and try to find a little bit of calm because what more can any of us do right now?

[montereybayaquarium]

do you have any pictures or facts to share about sea slugs/nudibranchs?

Imagine the sweet smell of watermelon candy… underwater???

🤔🍉🌊 Meet the lion’s mane nudibranch, a.k.a. melibe, a stegosaurus-shaped sea slug with a surprisingly sugary scent! While the fruity fragrance of this marvelous mollusk may be alluring to humans, it’s quite off-putting to potential predators, like sea stars and fish.

We don’t recommend trying to sniff while underwater, but you can find a bouquet of melibes—yes, that’s the collective noun, very spring-vibes—in the Aquarium’s Enchanted Kelp Forest, beneath the Kelp Canopy exhibit. They can also be spotted in kelp forests and eelgrass beds all the way from Alaska to Baja!

We’re shore that a nudibranch by any other name would smell as sweet! 👃

[ocean-sunfish-apathy]

So not technically a fish but I absolutely love these lil fellas

They’re Nudibranch sea slugs and they all look so pretty!!!!!

Some notable exception are the Sea Bunny (left) which is just the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen

And the Leaf Sheep (right), which is the only animal known to be capable of photosynthesis!

i am SUCH a nudibranch fan oh my god. actual underwater fae creatures. beloved little freak animals. i want to eat them like cereal

[skuffypaw]

all my slugcats. i think they can retract limbs hence why some don’t have arms. slugs they are referenced from under the cut

(rbs appreciated)

survivor and monk: banana slug

hunter: red slug

gourmand: dusky arion slug

artificer - volcano / fire snail (not a slug but the colors were very arti)

rivulet - bennett’s nudibranch (sea slug)

spearmaster - bielvia slug

saint - green slug moth catipillar (not a slug but i think that fits saint)

nightcat / watcher - black velvet leatherleaf slug

enot / inv / ??? - no reference

[bunjywunjy]

How to sea slugs live in the sea if salt hurts slugs?

I'm glad you asked!

you see slugs, like sea slugs, have the same level of salt in their bodies as seawater has!

so these slugs, (these sea slugs) don't need to fear drying out when submerged in the sea- the salt in their bodies matches the amount of salt in the water, so no liquid needs to get moved around, you see.

so these slugs are free slugs and can go on living just fine in the sea!

have a smiling nudibranch.

(that said, there isn't a c t u a l l y all that much salt in seawater, so if you dropped a literal pile of salt onto a sea slug, it would suck out the slug's moisture and kill it exactly the same way as a land slug. bye for now!)

[baroueman]

Jorunna funebris, also known as the dotted nudibranch, is a species of sea slug's, particularly one of the multiple species known as sea bunnies. It is a gastropod mollusc in the family Discodorididae.

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[scribeartistjo-tan]

He has a couple of friends now. ^^

A little WIP doodle of something I'm working on. :)