Otherwise known as The Hopkins Rose nudibranch. These hermaphrodites are typically found along the coast of California, growing up to 2-3 cm in length. They use their Rhinophores located on the top of their heads to detect chemicals within their environment to find food and prevent them from running into predators. They are Nonpoisonous, although, I don’t recommend you handling them as your hands can easily damage the small nudibranch.
How to find a Okenia rosacea yourself 🔎
Its easiest to find somthing when you understand their habitats and eating habits. Especially when its a small Mollusk like this guy.
💧 Okenia rosacea needs to be in water to survive, as they can easily dry out and die.
The Okenia rosaceas diet is carnivorous, their main food sources needs to stay wet to grow, meaning they are typically found within the tidal pools, not on the exposed rock.
🪸 Their main food source is the pink encrusting bryozoan and Integripelta bilabiata (Which actually gives them their bright pink colouring).
So if you find their food source submerged in water, look close, a beautiful pink friend might be close by.
Rhinophores comes from two Greek words; Rhino meaning nose and phores meaning carrier, referring to their sensory organs.
Nudibranch; Nudi coming from the Latin word nudus (naked), and branch from the Greek word brankhia (gills). Referring to their external respiratory organs.
Comments