Lettuce slugs ?

[WindWalker]

Are these good algae grazers ? My LFS has some that look like black spotted butterflies. Really neat. I just want to make sure there slugs and not nudibranches destined to starve

[horge]

Hi,

'Lettuce' and the other Sacoglossan slugs are thoroughly herbivorous. They can and do learn to eat algae they are not accustomed to in the wild.

I guess the problem is in properly ID'ing your slug. (If it's a Nudibranch, then it is carnivorous, and useless as a lawn mower).

Try doing a search for Elysia or Aplysia --two of the more commonly available Sacoglossans-- in the hope of finding pics to help you.

hth
horge

PS: Check out the other related threads on this board, you seem to all be asking the same question I think I gave some rough overall info on Brooke's thread.

[WindWalker]

Thanks horge,

I've been looking for a picture. It doesn't look like any of the nudibranch pictures from the others posting. And, I've looked at hundreds of pictures of nudibranches and I haven't seen this one yet. I think I'll wait and see how long they live at my LFS.

Have a great day.