Bryopsis Eating Nudibranch - Elysia crispata

This is one of the few animals that will eat Bryopsis, a toxic form of hair algae that all fish will stay away from and most snails will die from if they eat it.

Bryopsis has a feathery look to it and often has blue highlights on its growing tips. It tends to be a very strong algae in that you can pick up rocks by pulling on a small clump of bryopsis.

July 2000, I placed six of these nudibranches into my tank to help take care of a Bryopsis problem I was having. I had a thick mat of it under my SPS corals where I could not reach via manual removal. These pictures were taken the same night the nudibranches were added.

By September 2000, almost all of bryopsis was removed but other algaes took its place showing that there is still a nutrient exporting problem with the system. I’ve been unable to locate any of the nudibranches.