About Aplysia

aplysia californica

From “Molluscan Melange”
Captain Alex Roth Jr.

“These animals, called “Sea Hares” due to their fancied resemblance to rabbits caused by their four tentacles, are members of the sub-class Gastropoda. Unlike other members of the Gastropoda, they do not have outer shells to protect the soft body, but instead have a thin, triangular, twisted plate inside the body, near the center of the back over the single gill. Some species get to be ten inches (25.4 cm) long, with a rounded body, neck and two pair of tentacles. The soft mantle forms broad swimming lobes, and many of the species are brilliantly colored. They eat seaweed and occasionally detritus. Certain of them exude a toxic purplish fluid similar to the purporin of the muricids; however, this fluid is harmless to humans.”

Aplysia Feeding

For more information about Aplysia, see:
http://www.seaslugforum.net/aplycali.htm

Voltage Sensitive Dye Recordings

Voltage-sensitive dye recording of neurons in the buccal ganglion during fictive feeding behavior and its modulation by L-DOPA. From Neveu et al., eNeuro, 2017.