Mantle secretions - Glossodoris hikuerensis

December 23, 2009
From: Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler


Concerning message #22554:

I include 3 photos of the milky white substance Glossodoris hikuerensis is secreting when being threatened.

It nearly looks like white ink. Is there any relation to the inking behavior showed by the more advanced molluscan relatives like squids or octopus?

Locality: Maumere, 10-15m, Flores, Indonesia, Indopacific, 12. July 2009, sand with coral blocks. Length: 4-5cm. Photographer: Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler.

Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler

webmaster@starfish.ch

Zuberbühler, T., 2009 (Dec 23) Mantle secretions - Glossodoris hikuerensis. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23014

Dear Teresa,

Thanks for these photos showing the mantle glands in action. As I mentioned in the message you referred to, the milky-white substance it exudes when disturbed is almost certainly a deterrent secretion manufactured from chemicals it ingests from its food sponge.

Quite a few dorids harbour such chemicals from their food sponges, but it seems that in the chromodorids we see the greatest elaboration of glands or storage sacs to contain these defensive metabolites. It also seems that different genera of chromodorids have chosen different sponges families as their preferred food and so they have evolved different mantle glands to accommodate the different types of chemicals their food sponges manufacture. That is one of the reasons I have been tryng to accumulate more information on the sponges each species of chromodorid feeds on. have a look at the followng Fact Sheets for more information:

Chemical Ecology page

Defensive Glands

Defensive mechanisms

Another quite different 'inking' is found in the Sea Hares [see Ink Glands]. Although this has been likened to the Purple Ink of the Octopus, I suspect it is a waste product from feeding on red algae.

The purple ink of cephalopods [octopus, squid] which you mention is quite different. It is manufactured by the animal and from all observations appears to be a defensive 'smoke screen' to confuse predators and give the suid ot octopus a chance to escape.

In chromodorids the secretions - if not poisonous, are certainly so distasteful that potential predators spit out or avoid eating animals that produce them.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Dec 23). Comment on Mantle secretions - Glossodoris hikuerensis by Teresa (Zubi) Zuberbühler. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23014

Factsheet

Glossodoris hikuerensis

Related messages

  1. Re: Glossodoris hikuerensis from sthn Queensland
    From: Scott Johnson, August 20, 2009
  2. Glossodoris hikuerensis from sthn Queensland
    From: Gary Cobb, August 17, 2009
  3. Re: Glossodoris hikuerensis with egg ribbon
    From: Hugues Flodrops, January 15, 2009
  4. Glossodoris hikuerensis with egg ribbon
    From: Lawrence Neal, June 30, 2008
  5. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Egypt
    From: Kamal El Tawil, July 25, 2006
  6. Glossodoris hikuerensis from French Polynesia
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 9, 2006
  7. Glossodoris hikuerensis from French Polynesia
    From: Erwin Koehler, June 6, 2006
  8. Glossodoris hikuerensis from the Red Sea
    From: Uwe Jacobs, January 10, 2006
  9. Glossodoris hikuerensis from the Red Sea
    From: Maarten Klerkx, October 5, 2005
  10. Re: Glossodoris hikuerensis from Reunion
    From: Yves Coze, August 10, 2003
  11. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Burma
    From: Sarah Heaney, March 23, 2003
  12. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Sulawesi
    From: Mary Jane Adams , December 20, 2002
  13. Glossodoris hikuerensis from French Polynesia
    From: Danny Van Belle, December 10, 2002
  14. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Reunion
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia , November 19, 2002
  15. Glossodoris hikuerensis from nthn Sulawesi
    From: Helmut Schirmböck, July 6, 2002
  16. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Christmas Island
    From: W.B. Rudman, May 14, 2002
  17. Glossodoris hikuerensis from the Solomon Ids
    From: Bruce Potter, June 25, 2001
  18. Tonga Records: Glossodoris hikuerensis
    From: Don Barclay, May 29, 2001
  19. Glossodoris hikuerensis from Red Sea
    From: Gordon T. Smith, February 3, 2001
  20. Glossodoris hikuerensis with extra rhinophore
    From: Scott Johnson, January 15, 2001
  21. Glossodoris hikuerensis from French Polynesia
    From: Daniel L. Geiger, December 20, 2000
  22. Large Glossodoris hikuerensis from Enewetak Atoll
    From: Scott Johnson, May 8, 2000
  23. Glossodoris hikuerensis from South Africa
    From: Valda Fraser, May 1, 2000

Show factsheet and all related messages