Aplysia for brain studies

September 2, 2000
From: Alvin Wong

Hi, my name is Alvin Wong.
I was wondering what the best species of Aplysia to work with for experiments involving synaptic plasticity was. Also, how can one keep Aplysia alive in a classroom?

Thank You,
Alvin.

alwongnet@aol.com

Dear Alvin,
Am I right in assuming you live in the USA? If so Aplysia californica is probably the way to go as it is the standard species used in this research in the US. There are also commercial suppliers.

Have a look at the messages below yours on this page for more information on the subject and for the address of suppliers. I am not a great expert on keeping Aplysia alive for long periods of time and am nor sure on what scale you plan to operate. If it's one or two animals, they should not be that difficult to keep as long as you have a good circulation system or filtration system and source of algae for them to eat. I do remember a message to the Forum by someone suggesting they quite like eating lettuce.

If you plan to buy some I am sure the suppliers will be able to give you some basic advice on keeping them alive. Also use the SEARCH button (type in brain or learning) as there are other messages on the general Sea Hare pages.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Sep 2). Comment on Aplysia for brain studies by Alvin Wong. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2955

Related messages

  1. Aplysia californica? from Peru
    From: Leonidas Mulluhara, June 3, 2010
  2. Re: Sea of Cortez Mystery Slug
    From: Jennifer Beatty, April 5, 2007
  3. Sea of Cortez Mystery Slug
    From: Jennifer Beatty, April 4, 2007
  4. Juvenile Californian Sea Hare & friends
    From: Kevin Lee, December 12, 2006
  5. Aplysia californica from California
    From: Shannon Fabre, May 17, 2006
  6. Aplysia californica from Sea Of Cortez
    From: Gerald Hinkler, April 15, 2006
  7. Aplysia californica at Puerto Penasco, Mexico?
    From: Parker Tastrom, March 22, 2006
  8. Juvenile Aplysia californica from Monterey, CA
    From: Clinton Bauder, July 8, 2005
  9. Can Aplysia californica eat kale?
    From: John Lopez, March 5, 2005
  10. Information on Aplysia californica
    From: Michael Navarro, February 8, 2005
  11. Aplysia californica from Santa Barbara Island
    From: Chris Grossman , June 30, 2003
  12. Re: Aplysia gigantea or A. californica?
    From: Jun Imamoto, March 3, 2003
  13. Aplysia californica inking
    From: Bill Rudman, March 3, 2003
  14. Aplysia gigantea? A. californica? from Japan
    From: Jun Imamoto, February 5, 2003
  15. Which slug is used for medical research?
    From: John H. Garrett III, September 17, 2002
  16. Keeping Aplysia in aquaria
    From: Jessica Helm, August 29, 2001
  17. Re: Keeping Aplysia in aquaria
    From: Tom Capo , August 29, 2001
  18. Photos of Aplysia californica
    From: Daniel Geiger, August 1, 2001
  19. Mass mortality of Aplysia californica
    From: Jose Luis Ochoa, March 24, 2001
  20. Sea Hare classification - A. californica
    From: Rachel Frank, December 31, 2000
  21. Information on Aplysia californica
    From: Luiza Zonzini, April 20, 2000
  22. Re: HUGE Sea Hare
    From: Ron Velarde, December 15, 1999
  23. Re: HUGE Sea Hare
    From: Diane, December 10, 1999
  24. Is this a sea slug? It's HUGE!!
    From: Diane, December 9, 1999
  25. Sea Slugs from South California
    From: Lonnie, July 13, 1999
  26. re: Need to know what we saw
    From: Eileen Steger, July 12, 1999
  27. Re: Sea Hares - mating chains
    From: Sigrid Schmalzer, July 12, 1999
  28. Re: Sea Hares - mating chains
    From: Sigrid Schmalzer, July 9, 1999
  29. Need to Know what we saw
    From: Eileen Steger, July 8, 1999
  30. Photos of Aplysia californica
    From: Daniel Geiger, March 12, 1999
  31. Urechis caupa or Aplysia californica
    From: barbara hansen, February 26, 1999
  32. Aplysia californica algal preference
    From: Christine Nguyen, January 3, 1999
  33. Photo request for Aplysia californica
    From: Panayotis Matsinopoulos, August 3, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages