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Dendronotus iris
Common name(s): Giant swimming or rainbow nudibranch
Size:
Adults can grow to a length of 30 cm. Their average size ranges from 6 to 10 cm
Range:
It inhabits environments from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to Los Coronados Islands in Mexico.
Habitat:
D. iris is typically found crawling on sand and mud bottoms. It is not found in tide pools or readily found in exposed littoral regions.
Life History:
The Giant Swimming Nudibranch is shaped like an elongated oval. It has 3 to 6 branched processes and an opaque white line on the dorsal edge of the foot. Color will vary from white, gray, brownish, orange-red, to maroon. The tips of their cerata (gill tufts) are colorful and may very from orange, yellow and purple. They will lay eggs in long white strings around the base of the tube anenome, Pachycerianthus fimbriantus. Each capsule contains fifty or more eggs that hatch after ten to twenty days.
Predators:
Pycnopodia helianthoides (Sunflower star)
Links:
http://slugsite.tierranet.com/steve/steve22/.htm
http://soilibrary.uxsd.edu/slugsite/pacific/irisw.html
Suggested Readings:
Behrens, David W., A Guide to the Opisthobranchs Alaska to Baja California. 1991. Sea Challengers. Monterey, California
Last updated Tuesday, September 05, 2006, by Lisa Ferrier
