Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): life history aspects
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): life history aspects Ami Schlesinger · Rotem Goldshmid · Michael G. HadWeld · Esti Kramarsky-Winter · Yossi Loya
Received: 28 September 2008 / Accepted: 4 January 2009 / Published online: 28 January 2009 © Springer-Verlag 2009
Abstract Spurilla neapolitana from the Eastern Mediterranean was cultured in a self-sustained, temperaturecontrolled laboratory culture system, and its life cycle is described. Adults were collected from three Weld sites situated 120 km apart, along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, between March 2006 and August 2007. Cultures of the life-cycle stages were raised at 24°C. S. neapolitana deposited white, coiled, spiral egg masses containing zygotes. Veliger larvae hatched 3.0 § 0.4 days post oviposition. The veliger larvae are obligatory planktotrophs, with a minimal larval phase of 22 days. In the lab, larvae settled and metamorphosed following exposure to metabolites derived from distinct prey sea anemone species. Reproductive maturity was reached 42 § 5 days post metamorphosis, resulting in a laboratory generation time of 67 days (egg to egg). The average life span of reproductive specimens in this study Communicated by J.P. Grassle. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00227-009-1126-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. A. Schlesinger (&) · E. Kramarsky-Winter · Y. Loya Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel e-mail: [email protected] A. Schlesinger School of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, 40297 Michmoret, Israel R. Goldshmid Faculty of Education, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada M. G. HadWeld Kewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
was 157 § 13 days post-oviposition and they reached a length of 7–10 cm. During this period, an average adult deposited ca. 40 £ 106 zygotes. This species has several characteristics that suggest it will be a useful model for laboratory-oriented research.
Introduction Various life-cycle stages of opisthobranch mollusks have served for research in such diverse areas as behavior, development, and ecology (Bonar and HadWeld 1974; Bonar 1976; Kandel 1979; Faucci et al. 2007). In particular, adult opisthobranchs have become premier models for neurobiological investigations, because neurons in their central nervous system are large and easily identiWable and manipulated (Kriegstein 1977a; Harrigan and Alkon 1978; Cohen et al. 2006). Most nudibranch species produce planktonic larvae that remain in their larval phase for periods of minutes to months, sometimes dispersing over great distances before settling on suitable substrata (HadWeld and Miller 1987; Todd et al. 2001). Many marine invertebrate larvae are inXuenced to settle and metamorphose by speciWc chemical and physical cues, which ensure appropriate sites for juvenile growth and eventual reproduction (reviewed by HadWeld and
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