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First published online March 30, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 1441-1453 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02164

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Odours detected by rhinophores mediate orientation to flow in the nudibranch mollusc, Tritonia diomedea

Russell C. Wyeth^* and A. O. Dennis Willows

Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800, USA and Friday Harbor Laboratories, 620 University Road, Friday Harbor, WA 98250, USA

^* Author for correspondence at present address: Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 1X5, Canada (e-mail: russell.wyeth{at}dal.ca)

Accepted 8 February 2006

Tritonia diomedea is a useful neuroethological model system that can contribute to our understanding of the neural control of navigation. Prior work on both sensory and locomotory systems is complemented by recent field experiments, which concluded that these animals primarily use a combination of odours and water flow as guidance cues. We corroborate these field results by showing similar navigation behaviours in a flow tank. Slugs crawled upstream towards both prey and conspecifics, and turned downstream after crawling into a section of the flow tank downstream of a predator. Controls without upstream odour sources crawled apparently randomly. We then tested whether these behaviours depend on odours detected by the rhinophores. Outflow from a header tank was used to generate prey, predator and unscented control odour plumes in the flow tank. Slugs with rhinophores crawled upstream towards a prey odour plume source, turned downstream in a predator odour plume, and showed no reaction to a control plume. Slugs without rhinophores behaved similarly to controls, regardless of odour plume type. Finally, we used extracellular recordings from the rhinophore nerve to demonstrate that isolated rhinophores are chemosensitive. Afferent activity increased significantly more after application of all three odour types than after unscented control applications. Responses were odour specific. We conclude that rhinophores mediate orientation to flow, and suggest that future work should focus on the integration of mechanosensation and chemosensation during navigation in T. diomedea.

Key words: Tritonia diomedea, nudibranch, gastropod, behaviour, neuroethology, navigation, orientation, sensory cues, chemosensation, odours, rheotaxis, mechanosensation

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