Egg masses of Thuridilla neona (2)

April 23, 2003
From: Cory Pittman

Dear Bill,
To accompany my other message concerning the egg ribbon of Thuridilla neona, here are some closeups showing developmental changes in the egg ribbon. To accompany the close-ups much of the first message is repeated here. Thuridilla neona is another example of an elysiid that produces prominent granules of “extra-capsular yolk”. In this case, the granules appear to be centrally (or ventrally?) located along the axis of the ribbon as indicated by the presence of eggs on top of some of them in the close-ups. These three close-ups of a portion of the loosely coiled ribbon taken, respectively,
upper right: a few hours after laying,
lower left: about two days later and
lower right: about five days later. The eggs gradually lost their orange pigment as they developed while the granules remained largely unchanged. Hatching occurred after about six days. The larvae, on hatching, were transparent and the granules remained visible in the ribbon after they hatched.
I hope this will be of interest.
Best wishes,
Cory

norm@maui.net

Pittman, C., 2003 (Apr 23) Egg masses of Thuridilla neona (2). [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9720

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