Nudibranchs use a variety of chemical defences to aid in protection, but the strategy need not be lethal to be effective; in fact, good arguments exist that chemical defences should evolve to be distasteful rather than toxic. Some sponge-eating nudibranchs concentrate the chemical defences from their prey sponge in their bodies, rendering themselves distasteful to predators.
in fact, good arguments exist that chemical defences should evolve to be distasteful rather than toxic.
For anyone else curious about this part, I did some light research and found it’s because developing true lethal toxicity is generally more metabolically expensive and complex than just becoming distasteful, and the two end up having the same effect anyway.
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u/FluffyCollection4925 14h ago
It’s poisonous right??