Melibe's - What are they?

Why are we so fascinated with these things?

Here is some information on our new Melibe page on the website


Eating
To feed, a melibe firmly attaches itself to a kelp blade and then sweeps its raised hood downward or to the side. When food lands on the lower surface of the hood, themelibe sweeps together the two sides of the hood, and its fringing tentacles lock in the prey. The hood contracts to force the captured food into the melibe’s mouth.
Prey include amphipods, copepods, mysids, other small crustaceans, small mollusks, small jellyfish and ctenophores, larvae of other invertebrates and occasionally small fish.

Reproduction
Melibe are hermaphrodites (they have both male and female sexual organs), and fertilization occurs internally. The animal can lay as many as 30,000 eggs, which are enclosed in a long, gelatinous yellow or cream-colored ribbons which form tight coils or wavy folds.

Where to Find Melibe
The melibe is usually found on eelgrass and other seaweeds near low tide and below, and in kelp forest in deeper water.

While we have yet to encounter one of these in Thailand - we do find encounter them in the sea grasses found near our Komodo Dive center.