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| Feeding |
Opisthobranchs feed on a great variety of sessile organisms including marine algae and animals such as sponges, bryozoans, hydroids, soft corals, gorgonians, tunicates, sea anemones, crustaceans, and even other opisthobranchs. There are some omnivorous species, but the majority has specialized diets where the food source also constitutes the home and the place to deposit eggs. Sacoglossans specialize in sucking the cellular contents out of marine
algae. They store the cell's living chloroplasts in specialized ducts
in their digestive systems, where the chloroplasts remain photosynthetic
and produce energy to complement the slug's diet. Similarly, some nudibranchs
retain living zooxanthellae from soft corals. In this case, the animal
also benefits from photosynthetic supplements of microalgae.
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