Creature Connection: The Melibe
Image Credit: Wikimedia
Plankton: watch out!
The melibe is an interesting sea slug who uses a mouth hood to catch plankton like a pro, instead of crawling and grazing, like most sea slugs. Tentacles around the inside of the melibe’s hood trap and sweep the food in while the hood moves downward to feed the slug.
Melibe have a fruity smell, which is actually the result of the poison it releases to keep predators away, and are known to drift from one side to the other to avoid predators.
Super smart!
Melibe live on huge kelp leaves and sea grass, unlike most sea slugs which crawl along the ocean floor. This unique slug matches the color of the kelp it lives on and ranges from yellowish brown to olive green. You can see melibe from Alaska all the way to the Californian gulf.
While no one hunts or collects Melibe, the sea slugs’ health relies on the health of the kelp and seaweed beds it lives on. Pollution kills kelp off in its early stages of growth, so to keep our oceans safe for these creatures and more, we need to do our part and put waste where it should be disposed of, not in the sea.
