Photo: Jim Anderson. Taken on Jenny’s Reef, west coast of Scotland.

Description: Medium-sized green slug.  Extensively studied in the contexts of kleptoplasty and biological control.

Distribution: Eastern Atlantic

Food plants: Codium fragile & Dasysiphonia (Teugels et al., 2008), Bryopsis, Chaetomorpha, Cladophora, 

Scientific Literature:

Frankenbach, S., Luppa, Q., Serôdio, J., Greve, C., Bleidissel, S., Melo Clavijo, J.  Laetz, E.M.J., Preisfeld, A., Christa, G. (2021) Kleptoplasts are continuously digested during feeding in the plastid-bearing sea slug Elysia viridis [K] [Vi]

Cruz S, LeKieffre C, Cartaxana P, Hubas C, Thiney N, Jakobsen S, Escrig S, Jesus B, Kühl M, Calado R, Meibom A. (2020) Functional kleptoplasts intermediate incorporation of carbon and nitrogen in cells of the Sacoglossa sea slug Elysia viridis Sci Rep. 10: 10548. [K] [Vi]

Rey F, Melo T, Cartaxana P, Calado R, Domingues P, Cruz S, Domingues MRM. (2020) Coping with Starvation: Contrasting Lipidomic Dynamics in the Cells of Two Sacoglossan Sea Slugs Incorporating Stolen Plastids from the Same Macroalga. Integr Comp Biol. 60: 43-56. [F] [K] [Vi]

Cartaxana P, Morelli L, Quintaneiro C, Calado G, Calado R, Cruz S. (2018) Kleptoplast photoacclimation state modulates the photobehaviour of the solar-powered sea slug Elysia viridis. J Exp Biol. 221:  jeb180463. [K] [NB] [Vi]

Cartaxana P, Trampe E, Kühl M, Cruz S. (2017) Kleptoplast photosynthesis is nutritionally relevant in the sea slug Elysia viridis. Sci Rep. 7: 7714. [K] [Vi]

Laetz, E.M.J., Ruhr, P.T., Bartolomaeus, T., Preisfeld, A., Wagele, H. (2017) Examining the retention of functional kleptoplasts and digestive activity in sacoglossan sea slugs. Organisms Diversity & Evolution 17: 87-99 [Ti] [Vi]

Rey F, Costa ED, Campos AM, Cartaxana P, Maciel E, Domingues P, Domingues MRM, Calado R, Cruz S. (2017) Kleptoplasty does not promote major shifts in the lipidome of macroalgal chloroplasts sequestered by the sacoglossan sea slug Elysia viridis. Sci Rep. 7:11502. [K] [Vi]Baumgartner, F.A., Pavia, H., Toth, G.B. (2015) Acquired phototrophy through retention of functional chloroplasts increases growth efficiency of the sea slug Elysia viridis. PLoS ONE, 10 (4), art. no. e0120874 [F] [K] [Vi]

Pierce, S.K., Curtis, N.E., Middlebrooks, M.L. (2015) Sacoglossan sea slugs make routine use of photosynthesis by a variety of species-specific adaptations. Invert. Biol. 134:103-115 [HT] [Ti] [Vi]Baumgartner, F.A., Pavia, H., Toth, G.B. (2014) Individual specialization to non-optimal hosts in a polyphagous marine invertebrate herbivore.  PLoS ONE, 9 (8), art. no. e102752 Abstract PDF [NH] [F] [Vi]

Baumgartner, F.A., Toth, G.B. (2014) Abundance and size distribution of the sacoglossan Elysia viridis on co-occurring algal hosts on the Swedish west coast. PLoS ONE, 9 (3), art. no. e92472, . Abstract PDF [Vi] [F] [NH]

Cruz, S., Dionísio, G., Rosa, R., Calado, R., Serôdio, J. (2012) Anesthetizing solar-powered sea slugs for photobiological studies Biological Bulletin, 223 (3), pp. 328-336. PDF [Vi]

Handeler, K., Wagele, H., Wahrmund, U., Rudinger, M., Knoop, V. (2010) Slugs’ last meals: Molecular identification of sequestered chloroplasts from different algal origins in Sacoglossa (Opisthobranchia, Gastropoda). Molecular Ecology Resources, 10 (6), pp. 968-978. PDF [Pu] [To] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D., Hirano, Y.J., Hirano, Y.M. (2010) Sacoglossan opisthobranchs on Northwestern Pacific Shores: Stiliger berghi Baba, 1937, and Elysia sp. on filamentous red algae. Veliger, 51 (1-2), pp. 43-62. PDF [F] [NH] [Vi]

Serôdio, J., Pereira, S., Furtado, J., Silva, R., Coelho, H., Calado, R. (2010) In vivo quantification of kleptoplastic chlorophyll a content in the “solar-powered” sea slug Elysia viridis using optical methods: Spectral reflectance analysis and PAM fluorometry. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, 9 (1), pp. 68-77. PDF [K] [Vi]

Vieira, S., Calado, R., Coelho, H., Serôdio, J. (2009) Effects of light exposure on the retention of kleptoplastic photosynthetic activity in the sacoglossan mollusc Elysia viridis. Marine Biology, 156 (5), pp. 1007-1020. PDF [K] [Vi]

Evertsen, J., Johnsen, G. (2009) In vivo and in vitro differences in chloroplast functionality in the two north Atlantic sacoglossans (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia) Placida dendritica and Elysia viridis. Marine Biology, 156 (5), pp. 847-859. PDF [K] [Vi]

Cutignano, A., Cimino, G., Villani, G., Fontana, A. (2009) Shaping the polypropionate biosynthesis in the solar-powered mollusc Elysia viridis. ChemBioChem, 10 (2), pp. 315-322. PDF [NP] [Vi]

Teugels, B., Bouillon, S., Veuger, B., Middelburg, J.J., Koedam, N. (2008) Kleptoplasts mediate nitrogen acquisition in the sea slug Elysia viridis. Aquatic Biology, 4 (1), pp. 15-21.PDF [K] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D., Little, C., Stirling, P., Farnham, W.F. (2008) Sacoglossan gastropods on native and introduced hosts in Lough Hyne, Ireland: Larval retention and population asynchrony? Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 88 (4), pp. 771-782. PDF [F] [NH] [Vi]

Marín, A., Ros, J. (2004) Chemical defenses in Sacoglossan Opisthobranchs: Taxonomic trends and evolutive implications [Defensas químicas en los opistobranquios sacoglosos: Tendencias taxonómicas e implicaciones evolutivas]. Scientia Marina, 68 (SUPPL 1), pp. 227-241. PDF [NH] [NP] [Ti] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D. (2004) Emerging associations on marine rocky shores: Specialist herbivores on introduced macroalgae. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73 (2), pp. 294-308. PDF [NH] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D. (2002) Local elimination of Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides: Indirect evidence of sacoglossan herbivory? Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 82 (6), pp. 1029-1030. Abstract [NH] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D., Todd, C.D. (2001) Host-plant change in marine specialist herbivores: Ascoglossan sea slugs on introduced macroalgae. Ecological Monographs, 71 (2), pp. 219-243. Abstract [BC] [NH] [Vi]

Trowbridge, C.D. (2000) The missing links: Larval and post-larval development of the ascoglossan opisthobranch Elysia viridis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 80 (6), pp. 1087-1094. Abstract [K] [NH] [Vi]

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] [Se] [Su] [Tu] [Vi] Excellent review of food sources

Trowbridge, C.D. (1998) Stenophagous, herbivorous sea slugs attack desiccation-prone, green algal hosts (Codium spp.): Indirect evidence of prey-stress models (PSMs)? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 230 (1), pp. 31-53. Abstract [F] [NH] [Vi]

Huber, G. (1993) on the cerebral nervous system of marine heterobranchia (gastropoda). J. Moll. Stud. 59: 381-420  [Vi]

Jensen, K.R. (1993) Morphological adaptations and plasticity of radular teeth of the Sacoglossa (= Ascoglossa) (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) in relation to their food plants. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 48 (2), pp. 135-155. Abstract [F] [NH] [Vi]

Theisen, B.F., Jensen, K.R. (1991) Genetic variation in six species of sacoglossan opisthobranchs. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 57 (2), pp. 267-275. Abstract  [NH] [Vi]

Hinde, R. (1978) The metabolism of photosynthetically fixed carbon by isolated chloroplasts from Codium fragile (Chlorophyta: Siphonales) and by Elysia viridis (Mollusca: Sacoglossa).  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 10 (3), pp. 329-342. Abstract [F] [K] [Vi]

Deutch, B. (1978) Light-regulated body ion balance in marine slug Elysia viridis (Montagu). Nature, 274 (5667), pp. 159-160. Abstract [K] [Vi]

Trench, R.K., Boyle, J.E., Smith, D.C. (1974) The association between chloroplast of Codium fragile and the mollusc Elysia viridis. III. Movement of photosynthetically fixed 14C in tissues of intact living E. viridis and in Tridachia crispata. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London – Biological Sciences, 185 (1081), pp. 453-464. JStor PDF [K] [Cr] [Vi]

Kress, A. (1972) Veränderungen der Eikapselvolumina während der entwicklung verschiedener Opisthobranchier-Arten (Mollusca, Gastropoda). Marine Biology, 16 (3), pp. 236-252. Abstract [NH] [Vi]

Hinde, R., Smith, D.C. (1972) Persistence of functional chloroplasts in Elysia viridis (Opisthobranchia, Sacoglossa). Nature: New biology, 239 (88), pp. 30-31. Abstract [K] [Vi]

Russell, L. (1929) The comparative morphology of the Elysioid and Aeolidioid types of the molluscan nervous system, and its bearing on the relationships of the Ascoglossan nudibranchs. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 14: 197-233.  [BN] [Vi]