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Slug-fest

Brightly colored slugs feed on a variety of sea whips and sea fans that populate tropical coral reefs. “They munch with their modified tooth,” said WHOI biology doctoral student Kristen Whalen. “You can see where they do their damage. They go up and down the animal like a lawn mower.”  Whalen spent up to seven hours a day diving on reefs near the Bahamas in January 2004. (Photo by Kristen Whalen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)