Unusual sleeping behavior of Oxynoe olivacea

January 13, 2004
From: Baki Yokes


Dear Bill,
I have been observing many Oxynoe olivacea specimens for the last 9 months and this happens every night. There are usually 3-7 specimens per tank. It seems that during day time they are not interested with each other (except mating, which is about once a week). But every night they form groups of two or three, sometimes all together, and sleep side by side. At first I thought that they had fallen asleep while grazing on the same Caulerpa leaf, but then I recognized that in many of the cases they chose aquarium glass instead of a leaf, which suggests that this gathering is not happening by chance, but is a common social activity. I have not observed this kind of sleeping behavior in Elysia, Aplysia or Flabellina species I have examined so far.

Best wishes
Baki

bakiyokes@turk.net

Yokes, B., 2004 (Jan 13) Unusual sleeping behavior of Oxynoe olivacea. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11881

Thanks Baki,
It will be interesting to see if anyone else has experienced a similar behaviour for either this species or other related animals
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Factsheet

Oxynoe olivacea

Related messages

  1. Re: Unusual sleeping behavior of Oxynoe olivacea
    From: Juan Lucas Cervera, January 19, 2004
  2. Sleeping aggregations in Oxynoe olivacea
    From: Thierry Thibaut, January 19, 2004
  3. Re: Oxynoe olivacea from Turkey
    From: Kathe R. Jensen, October 7, 2002
  4. Re: Oxynoe olivacea from Turkey
    From: Kathe R. Jensen, October 5, 2002
  5. Oxynoe olivacea from Turkey
    From: Baki Yokes, October 4, 2002

Show factsheet and all related messages