Aplysia juliana eaten by Flatworm
April 10, 2006
From: Lisa Kirkendale
Hi Bill,
I thought you would be interested in these aqarium observations of a flatworm which ate an Aplysia in our aquarium recently. It fortunately did it on the side of the tank so I was able to take these photos through the glass. Following the Aplysia sp., the flatworm then proceeded to eat a specimen of Chelidonura inornata (unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of that). The animals were all collected locally around Sydney [NSW, Australia].
A friend of mine, Raphael Ritson-Williams has tentatively identified the flatworm as Paraplanocera oligoglena. We were both grad students at the University of Guam Marine Lab, and he has recently published on a flatworm in Guam which harbours the neurotoxin, tetrodotoxin. The planocerid he was looking at ate a variety of marine snails from at least 11 families, and also a species of Elysia.
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Ritson-Williams, R., Yotsu-Yamashita, M. & Paul, V.J. (2006) Ecological functions of tetrodotoxin in a deadly polyclad flatworm. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 103(9): 3176-3179.
Sincerely,
Lisa Kirkendale
fragum4ever@yahoo.com
Kirkendale, L, 2006 (Apr 10) Aplysia juliana eaten by Flatworm. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16272
Thanks Lisa,
This is an interesting observation. Its common knowledge that flatworms are carnivorous but actually catching them in the act is not that easy. Its certainly not a good week for Sea Hares as its only a day or so since we posted the message about Aplysia californica being eaten by Navanax [message #16251]. Although not an expert on flatworms I have been using Paraplanocera oligoglena for this animal [see Fact Sheet], on the advice of Leslie Newman. I am pretty sure the sea hare is a small Aplysia juliana which may explain why it did not excrete any purple ink in its distress.
For those not familiar with flatworm anatomy, these animals have a 'mouth' on the underside of the body so essentially they can catch their prey by walking over the top of them and sucking them in.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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