Food of Ercolania boodleae
March 20, 2000
From: Yasuhiro Shirai
Dear Bill,
Thank you for your reply about Ercolania boodleae on Valonia.
Here is a photo of it with Valonia.
These animals (orange tips on their cerata) usually are on Valonia macrophysa.
And Valonia are worm-eaten gradually like this photo. I have often seen colonies of Valonia become gradually worm-eaten like this when Ercolania is present so I thought these animals eat Valonia macrophysa.
Best regards,
Yasuhiro Shirai
yasuhiro@e-net.or.jp
Shirai, Y., 2000 (Mar 20) Food of Ercolania boodleae. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2125Dear Yasuhiro,
Thanks for the photo. You may be right about them eating Valonia. All I know about Ercolania boodleae is what I have read in publications by Baba and Hamatani, where it is said that they feed on filamentous algae. Valonia quite often has a growth of filamentous algae over it so by grazing of this algal layer is certainly one way Ercolania could make Valonia look 'worm-eaten'. Feeding observations are always difficult. The only sure way is to watch a species actually feeding, but as we all know that is often easier said than done.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
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