Habitat
Nudibranchs are found from the icy waters of
the Antarctic to the warm waters in the Caribbean. The
Hexabranchus sanguineus, or Spanish dancer, is home to a
more specific area.
The
Spanish dancer nudibranch is common to
the Indo-Pacific ocean (Pawlik et al, 1988) and also the Red
Sea. If you want to find them in the United States, Hawaii is
the place. This means they live in warm and tropical water. You
can find the Hexabranchus sanguineus more readily
during the low tide period in shallow waters. During the high
tide, they tuck into coral crevices thus reducing the risk of
being swept away (Francis, 1980).
There is a vast population of organisms that live in the same
habitat as the Spanish dancer. Orgnaisms that can be found there
include varios types of sponges, crabs and lobsters. If you want
to learn more about organisms in the Indo-Pacific region,
click here. The nudibranch's
main dish happens to be toxic sponges, while crabs and lobsters
are the nudibranch's predators. By eating
these toxic sponges, they are able to produce and secrete a chemical
defense. We will emphasize more of this in our
interactions page.