Natural history of Phyllodesmium longicirrum

September 7, 2001
From: Derek Carmona

I am interested in studying the life of Phyllodesmium longicirrum and its symbiotic relationship with octocorals but I am unable to research them in there natural habitat due to the fact that I do not live in or around Indonesia or Australia. Do you know of where I can obtain specimes or if it is even possible to do so? I plan on breeding them in a tank set up as close to their natural enviroment as possible. Any suggestions on the size that would be best suitable? Do they readily breed in captivity? Also, any information on these animals would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Derek Carmona

carmona@maxinet.com

Carmona, D., 2001 (Sep 7) Natural history of Phyllodesmium longicirrum. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5218

Dear Derek,
I am afraid it's just not possible to study the life of an animal by keeping it in captivity. Until you know something about its real life history in nature, then you won't know how to adequately prepare for it in captivity. I'm afraid we know very little about this species. What you find on the Forum and in references cited on the Forum, is about the limit of our knowledge. It is known to feed on the soft-coral Sarcophyton, but we don't know if it eats other soft corals. It obviously has a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae [see Solar-powered Sea Slug Page] but we can only guess that it gets the zooxanthellae from Sarcophyton. But we know nothing of its life span, whether it has planktonic larvae or any other aspect of its life cycle or way of life.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Sep 7). Comment on Natural history of Phyllodesmium longicirrum by Derek Carmona. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5218

Factsheet

Phyllodesmium longicirrum

Related messages

  1. Re: Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeding
    From: Michael Henke, December 8, 2006
  2. Re: Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeding
    From: Michael Henke, December 6, 2006
  3. Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeding
    From: Michael Henke, December 6, 2006
  4. Phyllodesmium longicirrum on Sarcophyton
    From: Mary Jane Adams, January 15, 2004
  5. Phyllodesmium longicirrum - Lembeh Straits [2]
    From: Rich, October 14, 2003
  6. Phyllodesmium longicirrum - Lembeh Straits
    From: Paul Whitehead, October 14, 2003
  7. Phyllodesmium longicirrum from Sulawesi
    From: Mary Jane Adams , December 18, 2002
  8. Juvenile Phyllodesmium longicirra
    From: Mary Jane Adams, May 10, 2002
  9. Phyllodesmium longicirrum feeding
    From: Mary Jane Adams , September 10, 2001
  10. Information on Phyllodesmium spp.
    From: Delisse M. Ortiz, October 7, 1999
  11. Phyllodesmium longicirrum - feeding
    From: Monica Sullivan, June 19, 1999
  12. Phyllodesmium longicirra? or -cirrum?
    From: Erwin Koehler, February 16, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages