Re: Hermaea variopicta - reproduction

February 24, 2006
From: Bernard Picton

Concerning message #15915:

Hi Hervé,
Nice pictures - your animals are really well-coloured. I'd be really interested to know which alga or algae they were feeding on. I've only found this species on one or two occasions and it was eating Halurus equisetifolius. If you can't identify the alga you could press and dry it and I could check it for you.

http://www.cryptogamicbotany.com/lm_start.html  gives details of pressing algae - they say fix first in Formalin but I don't do that, just dry it onto a sheet of good paper using something non-stick (nylon or disposable nappy liner) on top to stop it sticking to the blotting paper.

I'd be really interested to see photos of the egss as well. You seem to have a population explosion at that site at the moment, Opisthobranchs are like that - can be really rare for years, then suddenly you find a place where they are really abundant. Sometimes they will be at that place for several years, or they may all move on to another food source elsewhere.

Bernard

billr@seaslugforum.net

Picton, B.E., 2006 (Feb 24) Re: Hermaea variopicta - reproduction. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/15935

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