Chelidonura varians - laying eggs in an aquarium.

April 21, 2010
From: Kim Schrier

Hi there,

I am hoping you can answer my question, as I can't seem to find the info I'm after on the net.

I have a Chelidonura varians quite happily eating flatworms I have in my aquarium and there are still a lot left. Today it laid eggs. Now I know that before opisthobranchs die they lay eggs, so is my Chelidonura going to die or do they lay eggs on a regular basis, even without a mate?

Hope you can help.
Thanks
Kim

kimschrier@gmail.com

Schrier, K., 2010 (Apr 21) Chelidonura varians - laying eggs in an aquarium.. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23530

Dear Kim,

Some stressed or dying opisthobranchs do lay an egg mass - but in these cases the egg ribbon is usually malformed, often eggs are absent and only streaky bits of yolk are present. From this we consider the egg laying to be an uncoordinated action as the animal dies.

To lay viable eggs, an opisthobranch needs to mate with a second individual. However there is evidence that mating can occur quite a while before egg laying, the egg layer storing its partner's sperm in a special sac for some weeks. I am not sure how long sperm can be stored but it is possible your animal mated before you obtained it and is only now using the stored sperm.

If that is the case, hopefully you will not have to arrange a funeral in the near future.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Apr 21). Comment on Chelidonura varians - laying eggs in an aquarium. by Kim Schrier. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23530

Factsheet

Chelidonura varians

Related messages

  1. Re: Chelidonura varians in aquarium
    From: Robin Jerome, December 3, 2009
  2. Re: Chelidonura varians in aquarium
    From: Bill Brown, August 26, 2009
  3. Re: Chelidonura from Mayotte, Indian Ocean
    From: Sylvain Le Bris, January 30, 2009
  4. Re: Chelidonura varians in aquarium
    From: Beck None, October 7, 2008
  5. Chelidonura varians - mating behaviour
    From: Kamal El Tawil, September 19, 2007
  6. Philinopsis gardineri? from the Red Sea
    From: Dany Porras, July 26, 2007
  7. Chelidonura varians - strange behavior
    From: Erwin Kodiat, June 22, 2007
  8. Chelidonura varians from Bali
    From: Danny Van Belle, January 26, 2007
  9. Chelidonura varians from sthn Queensland
    From: Ian Banks, May 4, 2006
  10. Mating Chelidonura varians
    From: Erwin Kodiat, January 16, 2006
  11. Chelidonura varians from Bali
    From: Erwin Kodiat, December 6, 2005
  12. Chelidonura varians mating
    From: Mary Jane Adams, February 14, 2005
  13. Chelidonura varians in aquarium
    From: tlp, December 4, 2003
  14. Chelidonura varians from Sabah, Malaysia
    From: Asther M. Lau, September 6, 2003
  15. Re: Chelidonura varians - shipping stresses?
    From: James Urquhart, June 25, 2003
  16. Re: Chelidonura varians - shipping stresses?
    From: James Urquhart, June 24, 2003
  17. Chelidonura varians - shipping stresses?
    From: James Urquhart, May 28, 2003
  18. Re: Chelidonura varians - trailing behaviour
    From: Roberto Sozzani, May 21, 2003
  19. Re: Chelidonura varians - trailing behaviour
    From: Roberto Sozzani, May 20, 2003
  20. Chelidonura varians - trailing behaviour
    From: Leanne & David Atkinson, May 19, 2003
  21. Chelidonura varians egg laying
    From: Joe Yaiullo, April 22, 2003
  22. Chelidonura varians - larval culture
    From: Joe Yaiullo, April 9, 2003
  23. Chelidonura varians from Lord Howe Island
    From: W.B. Rudman, January 9, 2003
  24. Chelidonura varians - Mabul Island, Malaysia
    From: Richard Houghton, September 3, 2002
  25. Aquarium flatworm control
    From: Victor Hernandez, April 3, 2002
  26. Chelidonura varians from Indonesia
    From: Stuart Hutchison, March 9, 2002
  27. Re: Slug to control photosynthetic flatworms
    From: Patrick Webb, March 9, 2002
  28. Re: Slug to control photosynthetic flatworms
    From: Mark, January 25, 2002
  29. Re: Need Slug that will help with Flatworms
    From: joe, September 7, 2001
  30. Slug to control photosynthetic flatworms
    From: Darrell Gibson, September 7, 2001
  31. Need Slug that will help with Flatworms
    From: D. Scott Morrison, June 17, 2001
  32. Juvenile Chelidonura from SE Sulawesi
    From: Lindsay Warren , June 13, 2001
  33. Planaria-eating nudibranch?
    From: Drew Dram, April 2, 2001
  34. Chelidonura feeding observations
    From: Julian Sprung, December 22, 2000
  35. Re: Where to get Chelidonura varians
    From: Scott Crumpton, June 10, 2000
  36. Re: Where to get Chelidonura varians
    From: Gary J. Robinson, February 14, 2000
  37. Re: More on Chelidonura feeding
    From: Cory Pittman, February 8, 2000
  38. A nudibranch that eats Flat Worms
    From: john, December 10, 1999
  39. control of flatworms in marine aquarium
    From: Roger, May 29, 1999
  40. Red flatworm-eating Sea Slug
    From: pat, April 14, 1999
  41. Re: Where can I get Chelidonura varians?
    From: Donna Stimetz, March 29, 1999
  42. Where can I get Chelidonura varians?
    From: Paul Hranitz, November 30, 1998
  43. Chelidonura feeding
    From: Davide & Giovanni, October 14, 1998
  44. Reference for Chelidonura feeding
    From: Davide Giovine, October 8, 1998
  45. More Chelidonura feeding
    From: Cory Pittman, October 7, 1998
  46. Re: Chelidonura feeding
    From: Peter Firminger, September 18, 1998
  47. Chelidonura feeding
    From: Davide & Giovanni, September 8, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages