Interesting characteristic of G. atromarginata's gills

December 5, 2001
From: Nick Gill

Dr. Rudman,
This probably isn't very inportant to you, but i'd like to mention an interesting habit of Glossodoris atromarginata's cerata. I purchased a specimen out of pity a while ago. It most closely resembles G. atromarginata and is from the Pacific. I observed that it often waves its cerata, even in still water, probably to obtain more oxygen.I'm really sorry I have no pictures of it, but I do not have a digital camera.

P.S I really like your site, because it is so informative, and I often use it to ID nudibranchs I have seen.
Nick Gill

hongqixian@hotmail.com

Gill, N., 2001 (Dec 5) Interesting characteristic of G. atromarginata's gills. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5722

Dear Nick,
Thanks for this observation. Species of Glossodoris and Thorunna 'wiggle' their gills rhythmically as you describe. Most nudibranchs have quite thin skins and they probably use the skin as a secondary way to 'breathe' - that is exchange gases between their body and the external environment. It's nice to hypothesise that this wiggling will increase the water flow across the gills but species of Thorunna which are quite small and have 'thin skins' wiggle their gills while much larger, 'thicker skinned' chromodorids don't wiggle their gills. However gill wiggling may work for species of Glossodoris, where many species have quite thick muscular skins so it is unlikely that the body wall is much use as a secondary gill. What is also interesting about species of Glossodoris is that as they get larger, the circle (or horse-shoe) of gills extends at each end into a secondary spiral so greatly increasing the number of gills. Whether these secondary spirals and rhythmic 'wiggling' makes their breathing more efficient would be a very interesting study. In the photos of mine alongside you can see the secondary gill spirals in an adult G. atromarginata and the simple circlet of gills in the juvenile [inset].
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Dec 5). Comment on Interesting characteristic of G. atromarginata's gills by Nick Gill. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5722

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Glossodoris atromarginata

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