Abstract
After the nudibranchAeolidia papillosa eats the sea anemoneAnthopleura elegantissima, anthopleurine, an alarm pheromone from the sea anemone, persists in the tissues of the nudibranch. For at least five days following such a meal, nudibranchs are capable of evoking alarm responses in anemones without touching them, presumably by releasing anthopleurine into the water. The anemone's alarm response to anthopleurine is to withdraw the tentacles and oral disk, the preferred sites of attack forAeolidia. This leaves exposed to attack the anemone body regions with the highest anthopleurine concentrations. Specimens ofAeolidia collected near sources ofAnthopleura are more likely to contain detectable amounts of anthopleurine than those more distant; some nudibranchs collected 0.5 m fromAnthopleura contained enough anthopleurine to evoke alarm responses in anemones they approached. These findings suggest that the predator helps in the transmission of anthopleurine, which may reduce the severity of predation onAnthopleura.
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Howe, N.R., Harris, L.G. Transfer of the sea anemone pheromone, anthopleurine, by the nudibranchAeolidia papillosa . J Chem Ecol 4, 551–561 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988919
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00988919