Re: Damaged Elysia crispata

August 31, 2006
From: Nick Curtis

Concerning message #17549:

I have had first hand experiences with damaged E. clarki in our aquaria, and they have proven to be surprisingly resilient. It appears that as long as at least the head and pericardial sac are intact, the animal can survive and will continue to crawl around. The parapodia will regenerate fairly quickly around the damaged region, although, the slug may not grow back to its original size. I have also noticed that if the head is lost, the remainder of the body will survive for over a month, but will not move. I assume that the tissues continue to be sustained by the photosynthetic products of the chloroplasts. Unfortunately, I have never documented this with photography, so I encourage D. Rose to do so.

Nick Curtis

ncurtis2@mail.usf.edu

Curtis, N.E., 2006 (Aug 31) Re: Damaged Elysia crispata. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17684

Thanks Nick,
I am sure many of us have regeneration stories like this but they are usually peripheral to the task we are doing so they never get properly documented. For example, I was amazed one time how fast aeolids could replace lost cerata but I can't remember how many days it took - just that is was fast.

I know of only a very few published papers on the topic. If anyone can help out with references it would be nice to include them on the Forum. I have a page for messages on regeneration on the Forum, but most messages on the topic are attached to particular species. If you do a Forum Search for regeneration you will find most of them.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Aug 31). Comment on Re: Damaged Elysia crispata by Nick Curtis. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/17684

Factsheet

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