Re: Chelidonura varians - shipping stresses?

June 24, 2003
From: James Urquhart

Bill,
Thank you for your soapbox wisdom. I agree that your stance is the right way to be and think that it's admirable. Unfortunately, I am now reading your response because a second set of these wonderful creatures that should be left in the wild were shipped to me.

Fortunatly, they are alive and have acclimated well. My question is in regards to their toxin. I noticed my brittlestar take hold of one of them and scurry under the rocks. I have no idea if he consumed the creature and was curious whether or not the nudi would be something that the brittlestar could tolerate?
Any thoughts?
James Urquhart

james.urquhart@nautica.com

Dear James,
Concerning my 'soapbox wisdom'. If you received the 100s of messages I do - few of which I post on the Forum - I think you would be a bit exasperated as well. Reefs are being destroyed so a few people in rich countries can have a novelty. It's not much different from the end of the 1800s when a collection of 'naturally arranged' stuffed birds in a glass container was all the rage. It might have been nice for those who had one but it almost sent many species of humming birds extinct!

My first advice to all those who want to keep invertebrates in their tanks is to buy a book on the biology of marine invertebrates and learn something about their biology. Look for a book that has some background information not a book just with colour pictures, names and no information. Hopefully it would cut down quite a few general queries to the Forum. For example, if your animal is a brittle star, it would not have been attacking the Chelidonura, because all brittle stars are particle feeders, eating small specks of detritus they pick up with their tube feet. We don't know much about aglajid defences. They have a Yellow secretion but I don't think it is defensive.

I am not against people keeping aquaria, but I think the aquarium community has to take responsibility for the way the tropical reefs of the world are being wrecked to service the trade. Only buy captive bred animals and don't buy and keep animals which have no chance of surviving. Good luck with your Chelidonura
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Jun 24). Comment on Re: Chelidonura varians - shipping stresses? by James Urquhart. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10298

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