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Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): life history aspects

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Abstract

Spurilla neapolitana from the Eastern Mediterranean was cultured in a self-sustained, temperature-controlled laboratory culture system, and its life cycle is described. Adults were collected from three field 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 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.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank H. Ohana from the Ruppin Academic Center, School of Marine Sciences, Michmoret for assistance with the sea water systems, S. Kelly and C. Tran from the Kewalo Marine Laboratory, Hawaii for their helpful tutorials on nudibranch culture, R. Holtzman and S. Einbinder for advice on the statistical analysis and R. Yavetz for assistance with the field work. We would also like to thank M. Ucko at the National Centre for Mariculture, Eilat for the alga inoculates and invaluable advice. We would like to thank N. Paz for helpful commenting on this manuscript. The critical reading and constructive suggestions of three anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported in part by the Tel-Aviv University Fund for Applied Research and in part by the Raynor Chair for Environmental Conservation Research (to YL). All experiments undertaken within this study comply with the current laws of Israel, the country in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ami Schlesinger, Esti Kramarsky-Winter & Yossi Loya

  2. School of Marine Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, 40297, Michmoret, Israel

    Ami Schlesinger

  3. Faculty of Education, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Rotem Goldshmid

  4. Kewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA

    Michael G. Hadfield

Authors
  1. Ami Schlesinger
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  2. Rotem Goldshmid
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  3. Michael G. Hadfield
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  4. Esti Kramarsky-Winter
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  5. Yossi Loya
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Correspondence to Ami Schlesinger.

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Communicated by J.P. Grassle.

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Schlesinger, A., Goldshmid, R., Hadfield, M.G. et al. Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): life history aspects. Mar Biol 156, 753–761 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-009-1126-0

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