Inking behavior in Dolabella auricularia

October 3, 2003
From: Jaron Brown

Dear Bill
I am an undergraduate student at BYU-Hawaii on the island of Oahu and am working an establishing an LD 50 for Dolabella auricularia ink. I am however having problems with the sea hares producig ink once they've been in captivity for a few weeks. I was wondering if you have an information on why this may be the case and what to do about it.
I really enjoy your site by the way.
Mahalo!
Jaron

jaronbrown79@hotmail.com

Brown, J., 2003 (Oct 3) Inking behavior in Dolabella auricularia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11090

Dear Jaron,
In general, Sea Hares need to eat red algae to produce purple ink, as that is where the colour pigment comes from. I don't know what you are feediing your sea hares, but if you haven't got any red algae in the diet I doubt if they will produce purple ink for you. See the Fact Sheet on the species for further links and references on feeding and biology.

Concerning the ink. If you haven't already done so, look at the Purple Ink Page where you will see there is considerable doubt about whether the ink is a defensive secretion at all. I would assume that if you are trying to establish an LD 50, you are making the assumption that the purple ink is a poisonous substance with a possible defensive purpose.
[Note: To those of you who don't know what LD 50 means, it is shorthand for Lethal Death 50% and is used as a measure of toxicity. The LD 50 of a substance is the concentration that will kill 50% of a sample population].

Just because a substance is poisonous does not mean that its primary function is to kill things. It's possible that an animal kept in a solution containing purple ink would die, but there are many excretory products I would prefer not to be immersed in. It does not mean they have a defensive function however. It is an interesting topic so please keep us informed of your activities and results
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Oct 3). Comment on Inking behavior in Dolabella auricularia by Jaron Brown. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11090

Factsheet

Dolabella auricularia

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