This list is an attempt to compile all of the published food data for nudibranchs. More than 4,600 nudibranch papers were perused in an effort to find as much of the published food data as possible. More than 1,000 papers mentioned nudibranch food. Included are all of the articles that we were able to obtain prior to June 1996.

The list is arranged phylogenetically so that trends in food preferences within various groups of nudibranchs may be seen more easily. The food items are listed alphabetically below each species of nudibranch.

The author, date, and page number which mention prey species for each nudibranch are listed below each food item. If a subsequent author cited another paper as the source of the food data, the original author is cited in brackets. A P included in the brackets indicates that the subsequent author (as well as the original author) observed the food preference; (e.g. under Hopkinsia rosacea, McDonald & Nybakken, 1978:111 cite McBeth, 1971 as stating that H. rosacea eats Eurystomella bilabiata. McDonald & Nybakken also observed H. rosacea eating E. bilabiata).

If a nudibranch species or a prey species was cited under an older name in the original paper, the older name is listed in brackets. For many prey species, we were unaware which names are junior synonyms, so the same prey species may be listed more than once under the same nudibranch species (e.g. Obelia longissima and Laomedea longissima). We wish to thank Terry Gosliner for help with many of the junior synonyms of the nudibranchs. There is still confusion about some of the nudibranch species which we list (e.g. A. tuberculata Cuvier is a currently accepted valid species, while A. tuberculata Müller is considered to be a junior synonym of A. pseudoargus (Rapp, 1827)).

A question mark accompanying a prey species name indicates a questionable prey species identification. A question mark accompanying an author and date citation indicates that the author was unsure whether the nudibranch eats that prey species. If we list a nudibranch species as being "on" a prey species, the nudibranch was not reported to eat the prey species, but was only found on, or in association with, the species.

We have endeavored to check the original citations listed by subsequent authors with the following exceptions:

1) We were unable to obtain by interlibrary loan a copy of Ehrenberg, 1831; (vide post Phyllodesmium hyalinum on Xenia sp. cited by Rudman, 1981b:231 citing Ehrenberg).

2) We did not check all field guides to local marine faunas or other popular books (e.g. Riedl, 1963; or Vevers, 1955, The animal world of the sea, Rathbone, London, cited by Thompson, 1964:292 for Dendronotus frondosus eating Tubularia sp.).

1) The subsequent author lists a prey species as a food item while the original author stated that the nudibranch was found on the "prey" species, but did not state specifically that the nudibranch eats the "prey" species (e.g. vide post Okenia mediterranea where Valdes & Ortea, 1995:225 cite Alcyonidium mytili as a prey species and list Cervera, Lopez-Gonzalez, & Garcia-Gomez, 1991 as the source of this information, but Cervera, Lopez-Gonzalez, & Garcia-Gomez, 1991:64 state that O. mediterranea was found on Alcyonidium cf. mytili, but do not state specifically that the nudibranch eats the bryozoan).

2) The original author does not mention the prey species that the subsequent author cites (e.g. vide post Cuthona divae where Christensen, 1977:131 states that Marcus, 1961 lists Hydractinia as a substrate for C. divae but Marcus, 1961 does not mention Hydractinia or any other substrate for C. divae. Likewise for Cuthona concinna, Brown, 1980:249 says "possibly Dynamena pumilla is taken around Canada and the U.S.A. (Meyer, 1971)." But Meyer, 1971:146 states: "No food preference was determined..."). Numerous similar examples occur throughout the list.