Re: What eats Bryopsis?

February 1, 2001
From: Cynthia Trowbridge

Dear Bill,

Regarding Steve Wheeler's query:
As you know, many sacoglossans eat Bryopsis. I would suggest that perhaps readers refer to the recent review by Sue Williams and Di Walker. In one of their detailed tables, they summarize the known diets of sacoglossans from around the world. Regarding the query from the UK, it was not clear to me whether the aquarium was a tropical or temperate one. If the latter, the two UK species that come to mind are Elysia viridis and Placida dendritica. My experience with Bryopsis feeders, however, in lab experiments is that they consume the alga so fast that it is difficult to supply them with adequate food so they would soon starve to death.

Reference:
Williams, S.I. & Walker, D.I. (1999) Mesoherbivore-macroalgal interactions: feeding ecology of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) and their effects on their food algae. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. Rev., 37: 87-128

Cordially,
Cynthia

trowbric@ucs.orst.edu

Trowbridge, C., 2001 (Feb 1) Re: What eats Bryopsis?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3670

Thanks Cynthia,
Bill Rudman

Factsheet

Bryopsis - who eats this algae?

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