LockeOak
New member
Purpose of the Thread
Hi everyone, I am beginning a research project on some very interesting creatures and I thought I would start a thread to share information about them with everyone. It will also help me keep track of the project, write for a broad audience and hopefully provide some inspiration.
Introduction
This is Elysia clarki, a species of sea slug native to the Florida Keys which have the remarkable ability to steal chloroplasts from algae and survive for long periods using only photosynthesis. This is called kleptoplasty, and is done (with varying degrees of success) by many sea slugs. What really makes them special is that they not only hijack chloroplasts, they've actually "œstolen" some of the algae's genes as well! They're also adorable:
The research project is to study how well the sea slugs do some very plant-like things, like maintaining chloroplasts and pumping in carbon dioxide so their chloroplasts can make sugar. I will be using functional methods to measure both photosynthetic rates and the photosynthetic health of the animals. With this information, together with the genetics done by other labs, we will have a better understanding how an animal can take an entirely different evolutionary track into becoming, at least temporarily, self-sustaining through photosynthesis.
Setup
We collected a large number from the Florida Keys in mid-October 2011. They were brought back to the lab and put in a 20 gallon tank with a large supply of their preferred food, Penicillus capitatus (Neptune's shaving brush):
Sorry to all the aquarium gear junkies, the tank is very simple: an air pump with air stone, power compact lighting and an Aquaclear hang-on-the-back filter for water flow (no media, just a large sponge over the intake to prevent any sea slugs from being sucked into the pump). I didn't want any powerheads so as to avoid chopping up the Elysia. It's located in a temperature-controlled room set at 80F. We'll be doing water changes weekly.
Updates
I will be keeping this thread going with updates periodically, thanks for reading!
Hi everyone, I am beginning a research project on some very interesting creatures and I thought I would start a thread to share information about them with everyone. It will also help me keep track of the project, write for a broad audience and hopefully provide some inspiration.
Introduction
This is Elysia clarki, a species of sea slug native to the Florida Keys which have the remarkable ability to steal chloroplasts from algae and survive for long periods using only photosynthesis. This is called kleptoplasty, and is done (with varying degrees of success) by many sea slugs. What really makes them special is that they not only hijack chloroplasts, they've actually "œstolen" some of the algae's genes as well! They're also adorable:
The research project is to study how well the sea slugs do some very plant-like things, like maintaining chloroplasts and pumping in carbon dioxide so their chloroplasts can make sugar. I will be using functional methods to measure both photosynthetic rates and the photosynthetic health of the animals. With this information, together with the genetics done by other labs, we will have a better understanding how an animal can take an entirely different evolutionary track into becoming, at least temporarily, self-sustaining through photosynthesis.
Setup
We collected a large number from the Florida Keys in mid-October 2011. They were brought back to the lab and put in a 20 gallon tank with a large supply of their preferred food, Penicillus capitatus (Neptune's shaving brush):
Sorry to all the aquarium gear junkies, the tank is very simple: an air pump with air stone, power compact lighting and an Aquaclear hang-on-the-back filter for water flow (no media, just a large sponge over the intake to prevent any sea slugs from being sucked into the pump). I didn't want any powerheads so as to avoid chopping up the Elysia. It's located in a temperature-controlled room set at 80F. We'll be doing water changes weekly.
Updates
I will be keeping this thread going with updates periodically, thanks for reading!
