Elysia chlorotica
| Elysia chlorotica | ||||||||||
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Elysia chlorotica |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Elysia chlorotica | ||||||||||
| Gould , 1870 |
Elysia chlorotica is a living in the sea snail from the family of plakobranchidae in the subordination of sacoglossa (Sacoglossa).
description
Elysia chlorotica has a leaf-shaped, slightly translucent body with a pair of head tentacles, is lined with emerald green and yellow gold. The snail is a hermaphrodite . The snail reaches a length of up to 3 cm, but often remains significantly smaller. The body is green, the color can vary from light green to dark green to dark brown-green or black-green, and has light spots of green, blue or red color. The surface seems to have a velvety texture.
distribution
Elysia chlorotica occurs in shallow brackish water on the North American Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida .
Way of life
Elysia chlorotica begins its life as a larva, which initially lives free-swimming in the open water zone. Elysia chlorotica feeds on algae of the species Vaucheria litorea . The chloroplasts of this alga are not digested, but are taken over into the snail's organism in a functional manner; they are then referred to as kleptoplasts .
This uptake of the chloroplasts is essential for the development of the adult animal. The kleptoplasts are stored in specialized cells that are located around the digestive tract and remain photosynthetically active for several months. Therefore, Elysia chlorotica, along with four other Sacoglossa species, is one of the long-term retention species (LtR). In addition to the LtR, a distinction is made between short-term retention and non-retention types, in which the kleptoplasts are digested after a few weeks or immediately.
By absorbing the kleptoplasts, Elysia chlorotica is likely to be enabled to lead a photoheterotrophic way of life. Photoautotrophy could not be detected. It is discussed, however, whether the kleptoplasts serve as an energy store for the enrichment of starch. In addition, it is discussed whether and which roles kleptoplasts assume in metabolism and ontogenesis and to what extent they serve as camouflage.
swell
- Christa et al. (2014): Identification of sequestered chloroplasts in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic sacoglossan sea slugs. Frontiers in Zoology, 11, p. 15
- de Vries et al. (2013): Is ftSH the Key to Plastid Longevity in Sacoglossan Slugs? Genome Biology and Evolution, 5 (12), pp. 2540-2548
- de Vries et al. (2014): A sea slug's guide to plastid symbiosis. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, 83 (4), pp. 415-421
- Rumpho et al. (2011): The Making of a Photosynthetic Animal. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 214, pp. 303-311
Web links
- Pia Heinemann : The snail that turns into a plant on: welt.de of November 27, 2008