I've always wondered why this colorful animals can't be seen in public aquariums. They can be used in science (neurobiological assays or natural products). Is there any laboratory working specifically on these marine organisms?
Sure there are. I do not remember which lab in particular. About bioproducts, I remember a company in Europe, I believe in Spain, was used it. The name was biotechmed or biomed or something similar (sorry). About aquaculture, well there is some that focus in ornamental aquariums, very expensive by the way
You will get information on the Advanced Aquarist website at: www.advanced aquarist.com
U. Miami is a national resource for Aplysia:
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/
Betty, I have spawn two species of nudibranch, Thecacera darwini and Phidiana lottini. They are very easy to induce, an increment in water temperature is enough to induce them to to put the tape of eggs on the surface of the container. After a while it hatch a larvae planctotrophic larvae, which you must feed with the adequate diatoms. I used Chaetoceros gracilis and Isochrysis galbana 1:1.
My old colleague Prof Roz Hinde worked for years on the little green nudibranch Elysia. No problem getting them to spawn and hatch. The big problem is getting the veligers to metamorphose. The only food I know that works is Rhodomonas, also known as Chroomonas. Unfortunately Chroomonas is tempermental to grow: you can keep it for months and then one day it decides to die and there is nothing you can do about it. Never tried it but Phaeodactylum is a laboratory weed and it might be worth trying. I suspect a photosynthetic bacterium like a marine strain of Rhodopseudomonas would also work. Do not laugh. Photosynthetic bacteria require very little light and can be grown to densities algal people only dream about and no aeration needed. They are photoheterotrophic. Most will grow on almost anything.
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