Aplysia for brain studies

September 2, 2000
From: Alvin Wong

Hi, my name is Alvin Wong.
I was wondering what the best species of Aplysia to work with for experiments involving synaptic plasticity was. Also, how can one keep Aplysia alive in a classroom?

Thank You,
Alvin.

alwongnet@aol.com

Dear Alvin,
Am I right in assuming you live in the USA? If so Aplysia californica is probably the way to go as it is the standard species used in this research in the US. There are also commercial suppliers.

Have a look at the messages below yours on this page for more information on the subject and for the address of suppliers. I am not a great expert on keeping Aplysia alive for long periods of time and am nor sure on what scale you plan to operate. If it's one or two animals, they should not be that difficult to keep as long as you have a good circulation system or filtration system and source of algae for them to eat. I do remember a message to the Forum by someone suggesting they quite like eating lettuce.

If you plan to buy some I am sure the suppliers will be able to give you some basic advice on keeping them alive. Also use the SEARCH button (type in brain or learning) as there are other messages on the general Sea Hare pages.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Sep 2). Comment on Aplysia for brain studies by Alvin Wong. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2955

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