What is a lettuce slug? help please......!

July 28, 2000
From: Jonathan LAxton

Hi.....I'm trying to help my son do a school project on "Lettuce Slugs" which I imagine are Nudibranchs. Don't know the Latin name, though. Can anyone please assist with some info, or an address where I could look.

Many thanks

Jonathan Laxton

Gullivan@Isat.co.za

Laxton, J., 2000 (Jul 28) What is a lettuce slug? help please......! . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2782

Dear Jonathan,
"Common" names like "Lettuce Slug" are a real problem for communication. To me a Lettuce slug would be one of those little nuisances in my garden that eat the lettuces.

If you are sure that the slug your son is interested in lives in the sea, then I am pretty sure that there is a slug from the Caribbean which is called the "Lettuce Slug", not because it eats lettuce, but because it can have a frilly edge to its parapodia, which give it a slight resemblance to a lettuce plant.

The slug is Elysia crispata, and you may find it referred to by an older name Tridachia crispata which we don't use anymore. I am not sure how familiar you are with the web, but if you click on any underlined word or name, you will be taken to a relevant page. Click on Elysia crispata and you will find a page on the 'lettuce slug'. You will also find other messages, with photos and information, below your message, on this page.

Elysia crispata is a sea slug or 'opisthobranch' but it is not a nudibranch. It belongs to the Order Sacoglossa which are herbivorous slugs ranging from primitive species with quite large shells, to ones like Elysia which lack a shell and look quite nudibranch-like. If you click on the SPECIES LIST button at the top of this page and scroll down to the ORDER Sacoglossa, you will find a list of sacoglossan species on the Forum. Have look at some of them to get an idea of their diversity.

I am not sure of your son's interest in these animals but one interesting feature of them is described on the Solar-powered sea slugs page. Elysia crispata is one of a number of species which keeps chloroplasts from the algae it feeds on, alive in its body, where they continue to photosynthesise, providing sugars and other nutrients to the slug. Have a look there for other relevant pages.

I hope this helps you and your son,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Jul 28). Comment on What is a lettuce slug? help please......! by Jonathan LAxton. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2782

Factsheet

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