Category: Anatomy & Functions
Here are, and will be added, NudiNotes on the anatomy, shapes, systems and the associated functions of sea slugs in general or about species in particular.
DELVING INTO DENDRONOTINIDS
Above: Doto rosacea, displaying all the standard Dendronotina characteristics – large rhinophoral sheaths, branching appendages arranged down the lateral sides of the notum and feeding upon hydroids. DELVING INTO DENDRONOTINIDS If you have been reading the NudiNotes and Book Chapters that have been posted so far on NudibranchDomain you will have seen the word dendronotinids
Read MoreNUDIBRANCH GILL GUARDING
NUDIBRANCH GILL GUARDING Shell-less but not defenceless The sea is full of hungry mouths, many many hungry mouths either lying patiently in ambush or constantly on the move, in all directions, hunting for any opportunity to take a bite and feed. The last thing any animal needs is to have some attractive piece of their
Read MoreILLUMINATION ENLIGHTENMENT – Bioluminescence in Nudibranchs
Plocamopherus ceylonicus displaying the four papilla-mounted bioluminescent globes arranged around the vulnerable gill. ILLUMINATION ENLIGHTENMENT Bioluminescence in Nudibranchs Species of the humble sea slug can possess unusual and extraordinary capabilities such as autotomy, zooxanthellae hosting, kleptoplasty, exploitation of their prey’s defences through nematocyst sequestration and toxin accumulation, not to mention some incredible host mimicking. Another,
Read MoreCERATA Part 2 – The Multiple Functions
CERATA Part 2 – The Multiple Functions In Part 1, an overview of cerata was given together with some examples of what are, and what are not, considered to be cerata and which sea slug taxa possess them. A list of their diverse roles was included. Here in Part 2 those roles (excluding defence –
Read MoreCERATA: The Multifunctional “Fingers” of Sea Slugs Part 1 – Introduction
CERATA: The Multifunctional “Fingers” of Sea Slugs Part 1 – Introduction The term cerata (singular: ceras) is most often associated with the processes that arise from the dorsum of the Aeolidina – the aeolid nudibranchs. However, it is also commonly applied to the processes found on the dorsum of some of the Sacoglossa sea slugs
Read MoreGIVING THE FINGER – The siphon of gastropterids
The Gastropteridae are cephalaspideans or head-shield slugs. It would appear that their “main claim to fame”, bright and dramatic colouration of many aside, revolves around the ability and propensity of many to swim by flapping their parapodia. This behaviour has led to them receiving the common name of “bat-winged slugs”. Behaviour, especially one so demonstrative
Read MoreREMARKABLE RHINOPHORES
When you don’t possess true eyes to recognise the shape of things, to see where you’re going, or what’s coming, then you must certainly have some other highly developed sense to survive. Living in a medium that has thousands of different compounds dissolved or suspended in it, a virtual soup of chemicals, released either intentionally
Read MoreHANCOCK’S ORGANS – THE “RHINOPHORES” YOU HAVE WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE RHINOPHORES
We all know about the rhinophores of the true nudibranchs – those highly developed chemical-detecting “antennae” located anteriorly on their “head”. Even sea slugs other than the true nudibranchs such as the sea hares, and the side-gilled pleurobranchs have rhinophores. These though are tubes formed by longitudinal rolling rather than the solid form of the
Read MoreSIX SEPARATE SOCKETS – Hexabranchidae
Hexabranchus The name says it all. It has six gills – Hexabranchus. The family and genus hold six separate species. The species Hexabranchus sanguineus (sanguineus – blood-coloured) was originally described from the Red Sea. Specimens of that species from that region are not red and white mottled as in the images posted here but are
Read MoreTHE LITTLE SCRAPER – THE RADULA
The Little Scraper Nearly all the sea slugs, just like nearly all the molluscs (except the bivalves), possess a radula in the buccal cavity for feeding. The radula is used not unlike a combination of teeth and tongue to rasp at, puncture, slash or grip the prey for ingestion. Salivary glands assist the action of
Read MoreTHE ANAL DUALITY OF THE NUDIBRANCHIA
The true nudibranchs are divided into two suborders – Suborder Cladobranchia and Suborder Doridoidea. Without doubt the most noticeable external difference between the two is in the appearance of the gills. Here we must generalise of course with the dorids having a circle of gill branches around the anus, sometimes presenting as an arc or
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