Spurilla Nudibranch

Spurilla neapolitana

Also known as Neapolitan Spurilla, Aiptasia Eater

SaltwaterInvertebrate

Spurilla Nudibranch (Spurilla neapolitana) — Marina Poddubetskaia · CC BY 2.5

Care at a glance

Temperature: 68–81°F (20–27°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 3 in (7.5 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Reef safe: Reef safe with caution
Origin: Mediterranean and warm Atlantic, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico
Family: Aeolidiidae

Overview

A peaceful specialist predator used the same way as Berghia, as live Aiptasia control, but it is several times larger and clears an infestation much faster. Like Berghia it starves once the Aiptasia run out, so plan to pass it along to another infested tank when the job is done. It is a generalist anemone eater rather than a strict Aiptasia specialist, so keep it away from ornamental anemones.

In the wild

Found in very shallow water, usually 3 m or less, across the Mediterranean and the warm Atlantic, including the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, wherever its sea anemone prey grows. In the aquarium it needs a tank that actually has Aiptasia in it, since anemones are the only thing it eats.

Good to know

Spurilla neapolitana is an aeolid nudibranch in the family Aeolidiidae with flattened, curling cerata along its back. It stores working stinging cells from the anemones it eats in the tips of those cerata for its own defense, and molecular studies suggest the name covers a complex of several closely related species.

Did you know

It keeps the zooxanthellae from its anemone prey alive inside its own tissues, where they go on photosynthesizing, so this sea slug runs partly on solar power generated by cells it never grew itself.