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Spanish Dancer

The Spanish dancer is one of the largest and most striking nudibranchs in the world. Famous for its flowing, flamenco-like swimming motion, its bold appearance is more than just beautiful — it’s also a warning to predators that this species is not an easy meal.

 

Keeping with its name, the Spanish dancer moves with graceful, undulating motions when swimming. It typically appears bright red with white markings along its mantle, often with small spots or patterns that vary between individuals, adding bright flashes of color to reefs across the Indo-Pacific. Juvenile Spanish dancers are thought to spend their time hidden among reef cavities, only coming out to swim in deeper water once mature. Their brilliant coloring is a warning to predators — a sign that they’re toxic and not a good snack! 

 Spanish dancers feed mainly on sponges, which give them their toxins they depend on for defense. This protection can even be passed to the eggs they lay, safeguarding their young for a time until they are able to grow up and feed on sponges themselves. As they swim, Spanish dancers don’t always travel alone. They sometimes host shrimp on their backs, which ride along and feed on particles stuck to the dancer!

 

 

Spanish dancers depend on healthy coral reef habitat to survive. Coral reef degradation, pollution, and the impacts of warming ocean temperatures can all affect the sponges they rely on for food as well as the overall health of their habitats. 

 

 

Protecting coral reefs and reducing pollution are essential steps to ensure these mesmerizing “dancers” continue gliding through the world’s oceans. Oceana campaigns to protect important habitat, including coral reef ecosystems and other coastal ecosystems that are particularly important for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. 

 

 

  • Pawlik, J.R., Kernan, M.R., Molinski, T.F., Harper, M.K., & Faulkner, D.J. (1988). Defensive chemicals of the Spanisch dancer nudibranch Hexabranchus sanguineus and its egg ribbons: macrolides derived from a sponge diet. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 119, 99-109.  
  • Schuhmacher, H. (1973). Das kommensalische verhältnis zwischen Periclimenes imperator (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) und Hexabranchus sanguineus (Nudibranchia: Doridacea). Mar. Biol. 22, 355–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00391394 
  • Tibiriçá, Y., Pola, M., Pittman, C., Gosliner, T.M., Malaquias, M.A., & Cervera, J.L. (2023). A Spanish dancer? No! A troupe of dancers: a review of the family Hexabranchidae Bergh, 1891 (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Nudibranchia). Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 23, 697-742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-023-00611-0 

 

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