At Kwajalein, Zenopontonia rex is most often found living on large sea cucumbers, mostly Thelenota ananas but sometimes T. anax, and usually those living in or near sandy lagoon Halimeda patches. We have also seen them on large specimens of the Spanish Dancer nudibranch Hexabranchus sanguineus, which are seen nocturnally on the seaward reef on rare occasions.
Curiously, the color pattern on the specimen found on a large Hexabranchus sanguineus differed from the coloration of the shrimp found on the sea cucumbers. Possibly the mostly red with tiny white spots blended in better on the mostly red nudibranch.
Created 4 July 2018