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

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