Feeding in Hypselodoris festiva

August 10, 2002
From: Nishina Masayoshi

Dear Bill,
Your comment on food of Doto cf. pita is quite understandable. Sometimes it is almost impossible to be sure what they are eating.
Here are a series of photos of a Hypselodoris festiva, my wife and I observed for a while and photographed. But we could not recognise what they were eating. I often see Hypselodoris festiva like this - apparently eating mud. Probably there is some kind of sponge hidden there. The photos on the right show a sequence from the top where some 'food' is sensed and it everts its oral tube. At lower left there is a photo [upper] of an animal with its head apparently 'buried' in the mud and [lower] a photo of the animal showing an intense reaction - it seemed be reacting to a sharp pain while eating.

Date: 29 June 2002
Loc: Enoura, Sagami Bay. Japan
Lengh: 25mm
Depth: 4m
Water temp: 20C degree
Photos: Left: M. Nishina; Right: C. Nishina.

Best Regards,
Nishina Masayoshi

nishina@wips.co.jp

Masayoshi, N., 2002 (Aug 10) Feeding in Hypselodoris festiva. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7740

Dear Nishina,
Thanks for this great sequence of photos. It is indeed frustrating when you find a common species apparently feeding very well on nothing identifiable. Here in New South Wales, Hypselodoris bennetti is often found eating the 'mud'. Clearly what they are eating is a sponge which is covered with other marine growths, or is present as a fine network of tissue entangled with other plant and animal growths. The 'pained' response you describe is usually caused, not by the 'taste' of what it is eating but some physical pain caused perhaps by the bite of a crustacean or worm also living in, on or near the sponge colony.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Aug 10). Comment on Feeding in Hypselodoris festiva by Nishina Masayoshi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7740

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