Chloroplasts in Elysia crispata
June 30, 2003
From: Skip Pierce
Hi Bill
I can't confirm that the suspected Elysia diomedea in the recent posting is such, but it is not Elysia crispata. Not a very useful comment, I guess. However, the message gave me pause to review your message archive on E. diomedea, which includes some anatomical comparisons to E. crispata. We have found (looking with electron microscopy), in contrast to the Marcus paper you cite that says the symbiotic plastids in E. crispata are located in the connective tissue, that the symbiotic chloroplasts are in fact in the cells lining the digestive tubules-right where they ought to be. I don't know why Marcus thought otherwise. C. M. Yonge, in an ancient paper on "Tridachia" crispata (actually one of the first papers recognizing the symbiosis in elysiids, I think), mistook the plastids for zooxanthellae (but he was doing the work on the Dry Tortugas in the 1940's, so it's unlikely that he had an EM), which, if present, might be located in the blood sinuses - thus apearing to be in the connective tissue perhaps - but so far we have not seen any evidence (EM or molecular) for zooxanthellae in E. crispata - so with due respect to the Marcus paper, chloroplast location should not be used as a defining anatomical characteristic for these two species.
Hope all is well.
Skip
pierce@chuma1.cas.usf.edu
Pierce, S., 2003 (Jun 30) Chloroplasts in Elysia crispata. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/10331Thanks Skip,
From my experience, unless specimens are properly fixed for histological examination, it is very easy to misinterpret anatomical detail. Properly 'fixing' specimens is quite difficult with opisthobranchs because if you try and 'relax' them before preservation, so they don't retract into a tiny ball, you run the risk of tissue breakdown occurring before the muscles stop working. Sometimes the skin layers can be rotting away while the foot is still capable of contraction. The tissues of the digestive system are one of the first to start disintegrating. Flatworms also cause similar difficulties. It is one of the reasons that some textbooks recommend flooding flatworms with a boiling Bouins solution [a nasty mixture including picric acid and formalin]. It certainly kills them so fast that they don't have time to contract. I have found that cold Bouins [I've never had the courage to boil it] works well on some opisthobranchs - Tergipedidae, Dermatobranchus, Elysia - but fails for many.
Cheers,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Lettuce slug behaviour
From: Bob Bailey, March 26, 2010 -
Two Elysia crispata from Saba, Windward Islands
From: Eric Kaye, March 26, 2010 -
Colour variations of Elysia crispata from Guadeloupe [2]
From: Hugues Flodrops, November 21, 2007 -
Colour variations of Elysia crispata from Guadeloupe [1]
From: Hugues Flodrops, November 21, 2007 -
Elysia with a ripped body
From: Patrick, October 4, 2007 -
Location of Elysia crispata - and other slugs?
From: Paul Jones, September 22, 2007 -
Elysia crispata? from Cuba
From: Simon Crawford, March 23, 2007 -
Re: Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Andrew Rodenbeck, August 30, 2006 -
Damaged Elysia crispata
From: D. Rose, August 28, 2006 -
Re: Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Colin Finney, May 6, 2005 -
Re: Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Skip Pierce, May 4, 2005 -
Re: Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Kathe R. Jensen, May 2, 2005 -
Re: Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Lindsey Holm, May 2, 2005 -
Elysia crispata - Here's a puzzle
From: Skip Pierce, January 4, 2005 -
Update on Elysia crispata feeding
From: Skip Pierce, August 6, 2004 -
Re: Elysia crispata feeding
From: Pszemol, July 16, 2004 -
Re: Elysia feeding
From: Skip Pierce, March 1, 2004 -
Re: Elysia feeding
From: Kathe R. Jensen, February 27, 2004 -
Elysia feeding
From: Skip Pierce, February 26, 2004 -
Elysia crispata - breeding in aquarium
From: Paul Baldassano, January 9, 2004 -
Elysia crispata from Jamaica
From: Ross W. Gundersen, October 10, 2003 -
Elysia crispata from Colombia
From: Ana Karina Yepes, October 1, 2003 -
Elysia crispata from Bonaire
From: Robert Fishman, September 11, 2003 -
Light color form of Elysia crispata
From: Linda Ianniello, July 21, 2003 -
More on Elysia crispata - feeding, DNA etc
From: Skip Pierce, May 8, 2003 -
Re: Elysia crispata and algal genes
From: Kathe R. Jensen, May 5, 2003 -
Elysia crispata research
From: Dirk Trauner , March 11, 2003 -
Elysia crispata toxicity..
From: Ken Woden, September 17, 2002 -
Re: Elysia crispata question...
From: Matt Galvin, December 18, 2001 -
Elysia crispata question...
From: Rich Hunziker , December 12, 2001 -
Re: Advice of keeping Elysia crispata in captivity
From: Kathe R. Jensen, October 9, 2001 -
Re: Elysia crispata
From: Anne DuPont, October 9, 2001 -
Chloroplasts in the 'lettuce leaf nudibranch'
From: Caroline Nelson, October 8, 2001 -
Re: Advice of keeping Elysia in captivity
From: Claude Poole, September 24, 2001 -
I need some Bryopsis
From: Kathleen Archer , September 21, 2001 -
Re: Advice of keeping Elysia in captivity
From: Kathe R. Jensen, September 17, 2001 -
Advice of keeping Elysia in captivity
From: Kathleen Archer , September 15, 2001 -
Elysia crispata from Colombia
From: Alexander Taborda Marin, June 16, 2001 -
Keeping Elysia crispata in aquaria
From: Alan Pittman, February 26, 2001 -
Elysia crispata in aquaria
From: Ryan, January 29, 2001 -
What is a Lettuce Nudibranch
From: Mike Dean, October 30, 2000 -
Elysia crispata v Tridachia crispata
From: Kathe R. Jensen, October 17, 2000 -
Re: Elysia crispata - egg coil
From: Kathe R. Jensen, October 15, 2000 -
Elysia crispata - egg coil
From: John Batson, October 6, 2000 -
Re: Lettuce Slug
From: Jonathan Laxton, August 3, 2000 -
What is a lettuce slug? help please......!
From: Jonathan LAxton, July 28, 2000 -
Elysia crispata & photosynthesis
From: Dave Behrens, December 10, 1999 -
Tridachia v Elysia crispata
From: David W. Behrens, December 7, 1999 -
Photos of the solar-powered 'Ruffled Sea Slug'
From: Anne DuPont, December 7, 1999 -
Red-lined form of Tridachia crispata
From: Anne Dupont, December 7, 1999