Calling on Adam!!

[gwen_o_lyn]

Found this in my BIL's tank and I *think* it's a nudibranch. Just looking to see if you know what type. Bad? Good? He says he has them in a variety of colors. TIA for your help

[V]

i love how its a calling adam thread, yet with my view that bumps it to 10 views already...lol, nosey parkers we are! it looks friendly
anyways
, just tempt adam with the promise of a new white lab coat & he'l come running

[gwen_o_lyn]

well u aren't nosey silly BB!! If it was only for Adam, it would have been a PM.

Hey Adam- got a new lab coat for ya: Del Sol style, white inside when working/studying, and the minute u step into the sun, bright splash of reef colors!

Anyone see him running??

[AdamJ]

huh? huh?me?

[gwen_o_lyn]

huh? huh?me?

ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AdamJ]

Ok....

is there a better pic i could ask for?

i can not tell if it has rhinophores, so assumign it does not, then i am guessing that it is in the family elysiidae, and is then by most changes a herbavore.

but all this can be changed with a better pic.


so lab coat... i need a new one

[gwen_o_lyn]

That was actually the best pic I got. Here is another one. BIL hasn't noticed any corals munched on, so I think the herbavore part is correct.



Your new lab coat is in the mail!!

Thanks very much Adam!!

[AdamJ]

sorry that i could not be more precise.

If you ever get a side view, that could be very enlightening.

thaks for the fun!

[gwen_o_lyn]

Anytime!

[V]

while your identifying, i'll fill in the blanks for those that dont know whats happening here.

The word RHINOPHORE is made from two classical Greek words rhino = nose, and phore = carrier, and is a reference to the function of the rhinophores as an organ of "smell". We smell scents and odours with our nose, which has special receptors to sense the chemical molecules in the air. In nudibranchs, and other marine animals, the same sort of chemicals are dissolved in the sea water. In many Sea Slugs this is how they find their food. Scent receptors work better when there is a lot of surface area to test for the chemicals.

Nudibranchs have a pair of rhinophores at the front end of their bodies. Because of their "worm-like" shape, rhinophores are in constant danger of being nibbled by fish. To protect them from such damage, most are able to withdraw into a pocket beneath the skin. Often there is a raised collar or sheath around each pocket which can be clamped shut when the slug is disturbed.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Thanks so much BB!!
I had no idea what a rhinophore was!!

[V]

n/p Q, sometimes we forget to fill in the gaps, & dont really learn anything.

[gwen_o_lyn]

n/p Q, sometimes we forget to fill in the gaps, & dont really learn anything.

yup, I should have asked and didn't even think too!

[UMpg]

i agree with adam, its hard to tell, it looks like its from Elysiidae (which may have rhinophores..., but it looks like this one does not).

[V]

2 questions here, if they dont possess rino's what other means do they use to detect food? i thought all had this gland in some fashion> each with the evolutionary differences characteristic to their regin!


& what it this species when u get chance?

[Rob]

great thread guys...

thanks adam and Phillip for helping out,
and BB, for "filling in the blanks...
and of course to Q for asking.. (i can call you Q too, right.. just dont start snapping your fingers and disappearing)

awesome job guys, this is why this is great place to learn..

[V]

ive been sifting though the australian museum archive pages. & this is the closest in resemblance in that family

Order:SACOGLOSSA
Superfamily:ELYSIOIDEA
Family:Elysiidae
:Elysia serca


it seems close, the 2 dots behind the (mind the pun) rabbit ears, although it does display a combination of whitish dots but Q's picture shows more of a smudge.


Kathe Jensens summery report on feeding (side note: ive done abit of a background checking because Jensen is very well respected within the field)

Concerning the feeding of E. serca -
Halodule has very small epidermal cells and much bigger mesophyll cells. E. serca penetrates right through the epidermal cells and sucks cytoplasm from the mesophyll cells (which have few chloroplasts - or none?). Also, they empty more than one epidermal cell for each tooth penetration - including some in front of the mouth. The dark purple/brownish track is the "emptied" cells (which must still contain some sort of chemical that change colour when the chloroplast containing cytoplasm has been removed).

The animals look pale/starving because they cannot retain chloroplasts. I think this is because seagrass chloroplasts are not as robust as those of "siphonalean" algae. In our chloroplast symbiosis survey paper we had to measure C-14 uptake per animal because there was so little chlorophyll in these animals that we could not measure on a chlorophyll basis. We also found high levels of "dark-fixation", and thus no net photosynthesis.

The teeth of E. serca/catulus are rather strange in having a very tall base. I think that this is because they need to penetrate more than one cell wall at a time on a flat substrate. They prefer Halophila because this seagrass has only two layers of cells, both containing chloroplasts. The pharynx is shaped similar to that of Elysiella pusilla with a very thick layer of muscles surrounding the ventral limb of the radula. This would give added force to the leading radular tooth.

[UMpg]

2 questions here, if they dont possess rino's what other means do they use to detect food? i thought all had this gland in some fashion> each with the evolutionary differences characteristic to their regin!


& what it this species when u get chance?

Elysiidae should possess rhinophores... i'm pretty sure...

[UMpg]

and looking at this pic again, those probably are?? hard to tell...

[UMpg]

sorry to keep changing my mind...

[V]

U=undecieded
M=man
P=prepares for another
G=go

[Rob]

U=undecieded
M=man
P=prepares for another
G=go

lmao..
thats a good one V

[V]

hey adam hows the new lab coat Q provided?
if anyone wants to get there own lab coat dirty ive got a barage of question to fire off with answers u can hot potato all day if u want! lol
just dont ask me about atomic bulbs & i'll tell u no lies!

[fat walrus]

Thanks so much BB!!
I had no idea what a rhinophore was!!

Ooops. well now that you mentioned it............lol. no no, gwen.....don't kick my butt...

[UMpg]

U=undecieded
M=man
P=prepares for another
G=go

haha. i don't know how you come up with this stuff