DeskJockey Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Hi everyone- I thought I would share some info on a little slug that I found in my fug. A few weeks back I was gazing in my fug for my 55 and noticed this slug right in front of my face. I dont know how long it had been there because it blended in so well with the Caulerpa. At first I thought he probably wouldnt survive long, but this little animal has proven me wrong. It was the only one I could find at the time and he was very small about 1cm. Now they're are more than 20 of them and unfortunetly at the cost of my caulerpa. I have (or had) C. racemosa and C. taxifolia, but since then they have cleared out over half of the C. racemosa (and it was FULL) and wiped out ALL remnants of the C. taxifolia. They literally suck the life out of the grape bunches and stems. They have also laid eggs in several spots, each batch consisting of 100 to 200 eggs! Anyway here is what I have been able to find on them. They are sacoglossan sea slugs and this one in particular is Oxynoe antillarum. (Although it looks like Oxynoe olivacea as well) It has translucent white spots all over and characteristic pattern of mottled white pigmentation. The rhinophores are mottled white and there is a band of this color extending along each side of the head from the base of each rhinophore. A similar colored band runs around the edge of the parapodia, and along the edge of the foot. This species has retained an internal shell. Like most sacoglossigs, if you irritate them they will exude a thick milky white secretion from their body. This substance contains unpleasant chemicals to fend off predators. These chemical are thought to be derived from the algae they feed on. Like other species of Sacoglossid also, this slug incorporates photosynthetic pigments it gets for the algae into its mantle tissue. This provides a double benefit to the slug who first got nutrients by eating the algae and then receives nutrition from the photosynthetic pigments, which in the presence of sunlight, continue to carry out photosynthesis secreting by-products directly into the slugs tissue. The species is known to occur in the tropical and subtropical west Atlantic from Florida to northern Brazil. For more info check out http://www.seaslugforum.net Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 If anyone in the SD area is interested in these let me know. As I dont know what to do with all of them. I prefer not flush them but I cant sustain them for long. Likewise if anyone has any caulerpa they need to trim out PLEASE let me know. Thanks Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 if i lived in SD i'd take you up on one. mostly wanted to say great post and bump this to the top! tg Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 not sure what the white dish is but maybe you could build a race track (gutter?) and selectively breed the fastest buggers...just an idea to reap the most benefit from your slugs...gambling!...that or you could not do my idea and altogether avoid them "milking" aka declaring nuclear war on you tank! ttyl Link to comment
Twins Guy Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 ooh maybe you could train those things to eat afro algae and sell em to crakeur! Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Slug races sound good, cuz these suckers are fast!! Hmmmmmm Ive read that they adapt to other eating habits, maybe I could train them to eat afro algae. Damn I could make a killing!:woot: Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I've had a few of them at one point in time, too. They were pretty interesting to watch, especially when they decided it was feeding time and literally wrapped themselves around a bulb of grape caulerpa. Was pretty amazed to watch them suck the life out of the algae. Fortunately, they never got all of the it. One of my lawnmower blennies thought they looked tasty so he ate them, headfirst. Served the little bastards right. Link to comment
Korbin Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 Think they would eat the weird red bubble macro-algae thats taking over my tank? Link to comment
SoS Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 How big are they? You should breed them and market them they look sweet. Link to comment
Gilman Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 cool lookin little guys. Gil Link to comment
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