Glossodoris pallida from Vanuatu

December 6, 1999
From: Vinka Stenhouse


Dear Bill,


This one is from, Espiritu Santo Is., Vanuatu. 1995. It was 2cm long. Found at 10 metres on a bommie ledge. PHOTO: J.K. Stenhouse

Yours sincerely,

Vinka Stenhouse.
Santo.
Vanuatu.

Stenhouse, V., 1999 (Dec 6) Glossodoris pallida from Vanuatu. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1610

Dear Vinka,
This is Glossodoris pallida. The photo is quite interesting because it shows the animals on a large colony of a grey-black sponge which is almost certainly their food. It looks the same as described recently by Avila & Paul (1997) as a dictyoceratid sponge Cacospongia sp.. Their paper is very interesting because it contains good evidence to show that chromodorids are storing antifeedant chemicals, which are derived from their food, in particular parts of their body. They also showed that these chemicals do indeed deter fish.

In brief they found sponge-derived terpenoid compounds concentrated around the mantle border and in the mucous secretions of the mantle. They found that at their natural concentrations these chemicals deterred some crabs and reef fishes from feeding. They also found that animals which had had their mantle borders removed were much more likely to be eaten than those in which the mantle was intact. This is a very significant advance in our understanding of the biology of these fascinating animals. See also the page on chemical defence in nudibranchs.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Reference:
•Avila, C. & Paul, V.J. (1997) Chemical ecology of the nudibranch Glossodoris pallida: is the location of diet-derived metabolites important for defense?. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 150: 171-180.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Dec 6). Comment on Glossodoris pallida from Vanuatu by Vinka Stenhouse. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1610

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Glossodoris pallida

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