Larval rearing in Elysia diomedea

September 23, 2008
From: Patrick Krug

Concerning message #21810:

Jake, regarding development in Elysia diomedea - this species is reported to have planktotrophic development, and the pictures of egg masses from your slugs confirm this (tiny eggs, packed densely together.) It would likely take a month to culture the hatching larvae through to metamorphosis by feeding them microscopic algae; I've done it for a few sacoglossans, and it is a lot of work. The reason the egg mass disappeared on you is that it hatched, dispersing the microscopic larvae into your aquarium, where they sadly won't make it.

Its Caribbean sister species Elysia crispata has lecithotrophic larvae, meaning much larger ones that don't need to feed; they can metamorphose before, or immediately upon, hatching. It is thus much easier to get juveniles to study in lecithotrophic species.

It's interesting to note that since E. diomedea and E. crispata speciated following the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, lecithotrophic development has evolved in E.crispata during the last 3 million years -- not a long time, in an evolutionary sense.

Cheers,
Pat

pkrug@calstatela.edu

Krug, P. J., 2008 (Sep 23) Larval rearing in Elysia diomedea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21911

Thanks Pat,

Can we be sure that E. crispata and E. diomedea have a common ancestor? Morphologically E. clarki seems to have more similarities to E. diomedea than to E. crispata. Has E. diomedea been included in any of the molecular analyses of the group?

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2008 (Sep 23). Comment on Larval rearing in Elysia diomedea by Patrick Krug. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21911

Factsheet

Elysia diomedea

Related messages

  1. Sea Slugs from Costa Rica
    From: Victor Cespedes, March 24, 2010
  2. Re: Elysia diomedea feeding requirements
    From: Jake Weston, August 21, 2008
  3. Re: Elysia diomedea feeding requirements
    From: Jake Weston, August 19, 2008
  4. Re: Elysia diomedea breeding in home aquarium
    From: Skip Pierce, June 7, 2006
  5. Elysia diomedea breeding in home aquarium
    From: Matt Pedersen, June 5, 2006
  6. Are these 'lettuce nudibranch' eggs?
    From: Karen Hair, November 26, 2005
  7. Elysia diomedea life span
    From: Rebecca Rissanen, July 28, 2005
  8. Elysia diomedea from the Sea of Cortez
    From: Marli Wakeling, October 1, 2003
  9. Elysia diomedea from Ecuador
    From: Soledad Luna, August 21, 2003
  10. Elysia diomedea from Mexico
    From: José Luis Serrano, June 25, 2003
  11. Elysia diomedea from Costa Rica
    From: Peter Ajtai, June 2, 2002
  12. How to raise Elysia crispata
    From: Matt Galvin, December 19, 2001
  13. Re: How to raise Elysia crispata
    From: Erwin Koehler, December 19, 2001
  14. Re: Elysia diomedea
    From: Mary Jane Adams , June 9, 2001
  15. Re: Elysia diomedea feeding requirements
    From: Cynthia Trowbridge, June 7, 2001
  16. Elysia diomedea feeding requirements
    From: Sean, June 6, 2001

Show factsheet and all related messages