Tritonia diomedea

Tritonia diomedea

My daily inspiration for animals comes from all kinds of sources.. and today it comes from a big cute pink slug monster that I saw hanging up at a graphic design exhibit. Convenient muse, huh?

So let's talk about a real-life pink Slug, one that doesn't have anthropomorphic eyes! This is Tritonia diomedea, and it is a Nudibranch. Nudibranches are soft-bodies marine slugs all found within the clade Nudibranchia. There are around 3,000 species, many are stunningly beautiful, and they can be found in oceans worldwide.

T. diomedea lives off of the Northern Pacific Coast of North America. They inhabit relatively shallow waters, ranging at depths between 5 and 750m where there is a sandy or silty sea floor.

Though the image I present is pink, the species can also be found in various shades of red and orange. The Sea Slugs feed on tiny little Cnidarians like Sea Pens and Corals, and they hunt them out using their tentacles to smell!

After looking at so many beautiful Nudibranches, I strongly suggest that you take a long at some of the other fantastic species out there. They are one of the most colorful animal groups out there!

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Pacific Coast of North America
Size : Length around 8in (20cm)

Classification : Phylum : Mollusca -- Class : Gastropoda -- clade Nudibranchia
Superfamily : Tritonioidea -- Family : Tritoniidae -- Genus : Tritonia -- Species : T. diomedea