CHEMOTAXIS IN THE NUDIBRANCH HERMISSENDA CRASSICORNIS: DOES INGESTIVE CONDITIONING INFLUENCE ITS BEHAVIOUR IN A Y-MAZE?

Este artículo contiene 8 páginas, 3 tablas.The nudibranch mollusc Hermissenda crassicornis\udcan be cultured easily in the laboratory and has been\udused as a biomedical model for learning and memory\udstudies. Cultured animals whose only prey was Tubularia\udcrocea were tested for responses to other prey.\udNaive slugs were conditioned with six different diets\udand tested for behaviour in a Y-maze. H. crassicornis\udwas able to detect chemotactically food items which\udit had never been in contact with (such as Pennaria),\udbut it did not detect some of the conditioning diets\ud(e.g. Metridium). At least three hydroid species\udinduce a chemotactic behaviour in the slug. It is\udshown that ingestive conditioning does affect their\udresponse in single-choice and double-choice experiments.\udAs food items other than cnidarians are also\uddetected, it is likely that different Wairomones are\udresponsible for the nudibranch's behaviour.Peer reviewe