Chromodoris quadricolor feeding on black sponge ?

July 17, 2007
From: Kamal El Tawil

Hello Bill,
On a recent dive trip in Sudan, I found Chromodoris quadricolor feeding on black sponges on various offshore dive sites. I was under the impression that this species fed only on red sponges which are not so abundant in that area as compared to the northern part of the Red Sea. The black sponges are flexible and rubbery like.

Locality: Merlo and Shuab Rumi Reefs, 15 meters, Sudan, Red Sea, April 15th, 2007. Length: 3-4 cms. Photographer: Kamal el Tawil.

Best regards,
Kamal
www.coralworld.net

kamal@coralworld.net

El Tawil, K., 2007 (Jul 17) Chromodoris quadricolor feeding on black sponge ?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20150

Dear Kamal,

Thanks for the interesting find. The sponge is almost certainly a thorectid of the genus Semitaspongia [see message #16270 showing C. willani feeding]. Up until now C. quadricolor has been reported only from the quite unrelated red sponge Negombata magnifica. That sponge is well known amongst natural products chemists because it produces a very potent group of molecules called latrunculins which are being studied avidly by drug companies world wide. In terms of chromodorid biology, C. quadricolor stores latrunculins in its mantle glands for its own defence. Most species of Chromodoris feed on darwinellid sponges with a completely different suite of defensive molecules so C. quadricolor was a puzzle. However as I discussed at the conference in Bonn last year, and should be published any day, C. quadricolor  is one of a group of chromodorid species which feeds on sponges with latrunculins - and they can be found in both  Negombata [Podospongiidae, Poecilosclerida] and the quite unrelated Petrosaspongia [Thorectida, Dictyoceratida]. Some species in the western Pacific appear to feed on both a red species of Negombata and a grey-black thorectid. So your find of C. quadricolor feeding on a thorectid Semitaspongia is a valuable correlation. I don't know of any report of latrunculins in Semitaspongia, but C. willani feeds on both the thorectid Petrosaspongia, which does have latrunculins, and Semitaspongia, so we will have to wait until the chemists have a look.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jul 17). Comment on Chromodoris quadricolor feeding on black sponge ? by Kamal El Tawil. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20150

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