Information on Aplysia diet

February 6, 2003
From: Ana Karina Yepes

Hello
I am an undergraduate student of Biology of The University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia. I'm making my degree work in the Chemical Defence of Aplysia dactylomela and Discodoris evelinae, the first is vegetarian and the second is spongivorous. One of my objectives in this research is analyze the stomach content of this two species, and knowing that this is in the Caribbean, I would like to know if any one has information about the species of macroalgae that the Aplysia eat, but even if it is not from the Caribbean I would like information or bibliography on the Aplysia diet.

Greetings,
Ana Karina Yepes

akyepes@hotmail.com

Have a look at my answer to Patricia Chen's message. A. dactylomela seems to be a fairly specialised red algal feeder, Rogers et al (2002) finding it would only eat Laurencia obtusa. Here are a few references specifically about A. dactylomela.

• Carefoot,T.H. (1982) Phagostimulatory properties of various chemical compounds to sea hares (Aplysia kurodai and A. dactylomela). Marine Biology, 68: 207-215.
• Carefoot,T.H. (1991) Blood-glucose levels in the sea hare Aplysia dactylomela: interrelationships of activity, diet choice and food quality. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol., 154: 231-244.
• Rogers, C.N., De Nys, R., Charlton, T.S. & Steinberg, P.D. (2000) Dynamics of algal secondary metabolites in two species of Sea Hare. J. Chem. Ecol., 26(3): 721-744.

For more general references in Aplysia feeding, there is a page on the Forum listing feeding references. However the only way to be sure just what your population is feeding on is to observe them in the field and perhaps do some simple choice experiments in the lab.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Feb 6). Comment on Information on Aplysia diet by Ana Karina Yepes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9154

Factsheet

Aplysia dactylomela

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