SciCafe: Sea Slugs, Pirates of the Ocean

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

7 pm

A sea slug, attached to a rock. Its body is brilliant blue, with yellow, white and black streaks, and orange protrusions pointing upward.
SirWat/iStock
In the underwater arms race, some organisms don’t just hunt—they steal their prey’s best defenses. 

Join Jessica Goodheart, assistant curator in the Museum’s Division of Invertebrate Zoology, for an exploration of sea slugs and nudibranchs, extraordinary marine animals that have evolved the ability to “borrow” chemical defenses from sponges, anemones, and other prey. Like real-life pirates, these soft-bodied creatures compensate for their lost protective shells by hijacking venomous stingers and potent compounds, turning their meals into powerful tools for survival. 

This phenomenon isn’t just a marvel of evolution. It has real-world applications in medicine. Discover how these tiny ocean nomads draw fascinating parallels to other species including poison dart frogs and flatworms. 

Resources for SciCafe’s Frequent Geeks  

Quick Pick: What the Heck is a Nudibranch?   

Big Bite: Nudibranchs Do It Better 

Deep Dives:

Prey preference follows phylogeny
Sequestration of nematocysts by divergent cnidarian predators
Movement and storage of nematocysts