Elysia crispata toxicity..

September 17, 2002
From: Ken Woden

Hi.
After several months of waiting for some kind of relief from a Bryopsis outbreak, I broke down and bought a Lettuce Sea Slug. I am a little bit confused about their toxicity, though. I know their nudibranch cousins are toxic, but is this little guy toxic? Hopefully I'll never have to deal with him getting sucked into a filter intake or the like (I've screened EVERYTHING off), but just in case something happens, I'd like to know whether to freak out or not. Also, do sea slugs sleep? I've noticed mine goes through stages of activity and "laziness." I had one a few months ago that did the same thing (I sold it to a fellow hobbyist who had much more hair algae). Is this normal behaviour?
Thanks!!

savemyday087@yahoo.com

Woden, K., 2002 (Sep 17) Elysia crispata toxicity... [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7973

Dear Ken,
Many sacoglossans such as Elysia apparently store distasteful chemicals from their algal food to use in their own defence. However I suspect they deter rather than kill potential predators. If you look at other messages on this page there are no warnings that they wreak havoc in aquaria. Concerning slugs sleeping - quite a few seem to have a diurnal [day/night] activity cycle - but I don't know if the inactive period counts as 'sleeping'.
Cheers,
Bill Rudman

2002 (Sep 17). Comment on Elysia crispata toxicity.. by Ken Woden. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7973

Factsheet

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