Interactions
Chromodoris reticulata interacts differently with many
species depending on whether or not it is a predator or prey.
Most sea slugs primarily center its diet on sponges and algae
(Zhukova 2007). Chromodoris reticulata consumes these
organisms as an act of the circle of life.
Other
than consuming its prey for its dietary needs, the slug takes
advantage of its short interactions with its prey. In the cases of
its prey, Chromodoris reticulata resembles it very well as
an act of camouflage (Marin 1997). With this unique ability,
it usually is avoided by its predators which are not very well known
and very slim (Rudman 1999). Generally, Chromodoris
reticulata lives in the sea and in most cases dies off when its
food source is low (Yonow 1990) and can be found in pieces in fish
and other slugs or aquatic organisms that live in the same oceanic
regions such as the
spotted porcelain crab, the
cuttlefish, the
Napolean Wrasse and different kinds of jellyfish like the
Sea Wasp (Zhukova 2007). In these coastal regions, sponges
form a parasitic relationship with the exoskeletons of the corals
they are attached to. When Chromodoris reticulata
consumes these sponges it benefits the coral community by
diminishing a small amount of these sponges (Pantos 2010).
This symbiosis between all these organisms in this area of the ocean
results in a swelling ecosystem of many kinds of organisms,
eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Chromodoris reticulata
interacts through its reproduction with other Chromodoris
nudibranches as well as the day to day bump-ins with the many
diversified organisms of the intertidal regions of the ocean.