Elysia diomedea in the shallows in front of the Bahia de los Angeles field station. 5/23/17

Synonyms: Tridachiella diomedea

Description: Medium-sized species (~5 cm), with longitudinal white and yellow stripes on rhinophores and tail, highly ruffled parapodia that are variably edged in black yellow, pink and white.  Blue or white spots on the dorsal surface, white or blue stripes along sides and bottom of foot.  Studied mostly in the context of natural products and environmental health.

Distribution: Eastern Pacific from the Gulf of California to Panama (see: Elysia at Bahia de los Angeles).

Food Plants: Codium decorticatum, based on molecular analysis of kleptoplasts (DJS, personal observation).

Development: not documented

Published Papers:

Hernández-Almaraz, P., Méndez-Rodríguez, L., Zenteno-Savín, T., García-Domínguez, F., Vázquez-Botello, A., Serviere-Zaragoza, E. (2014) Metal mobility and bioaccumulation differences at lower trophic levels in marine ecosystems dominated by Sargassum species. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 94 (3), pp. 435-442. Abstract [F] [NH] [Di]

Díaz-Marrero, A.R., Cueto, M., D’Croz, L., Darias, J. (2008) Validating an endoperoxide as a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of elysiapyrones. Organic Letters, 10 (14), pp. 3057-3060. PDF [NP] [Di]

Bertsch, H. (2008) Ten-year basleine study of annual variation in the Opisthobranch (Mollusca: Gastropoda) populations at Bahia de los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico. in Bahia del los Angeles: Recursos Naturales y Communidad. Linea Base 2007. SEMARNAT, Protonatura Noroeste, SDNHM & Instituto Nacinal de Ecologia de Mexico pp. 319-338. [English translation without figures] [NH] [Di]

Cueto, M., D’Croz, L., Maté, J.L., San-Martín, A., Darias, J. (2005) Elysiapyrones from Elysia diomedea. Do such metabolites evidence an enzymatically assisted electrocyclization cascade for the biosynthesis of their bicyclo[4.2.0]octane core? Organic Letters, 7 (3), pp. 415-418. PDF [NP] [Di]

Williams, S.I., Walker D.I. (1999) Mesoherbivore-macroalgal interactions: feeding ecology of sacoglossan sea slugs (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) and their effects on food algae.  Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 37: 87-128 [At] [Au] [Ca] [Ev] [Ex] [Fi] [Fu] [He] [Ma] [Or] [Pa] [Pu] [Se] [Su] [Ti] [Tu] [Vi] Excellent review of food sources

Ireland, C., and Faulkner, D.J. (1981) The metabolites of the marine mollusk Tridachiella diomedea and Tridachia crispata. Tetrahedron 37 (suppl 1): 233-240 [Di]

Ireland, C., John Faulkner, D., Solheim, B.A., Clardy, J. (1978) Tridachione, a propionate-derived metabolite of the opisthobranch mollusc Tridachiella diomedea [22]. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 100 (3), pp. 1002-1003. Abstract [NP] [Di]

Trench, RK, ME Trench, L Muscatine (1972) Symbiotic chloroplasts; their photosynthetic products and contribution to mucus synthesis in two marine slugs The Biological Bulletin, 142 no. 2 335-349 [K] [Cr] [Di]

Trench,RK,  RW Greene, BG Bystrom (1969) Chloroplasts as functional organelles in animal tissues J. Cell Biol.  42: 404-417 Abstract  [F] [K] [Cr] [Di]