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We have been studying three aspects of Berghia's behavior: Multimodal navigation, feeding, and reproductive behaviors.
PhD student, Kate Otter, is studying approach and avoidance behaviors performed by Berghia. Berghia feeds exclusively on the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana. It sequesters the stinging nematocysts in its cerata as a borrowed chemical defense. Kate is looking at how Berghia assesses the cost/benefit of feeding. One thing that the slugs do is feed in groups to mob the anemone. This might minimize the injury to individual slugs. A preprint of this work is available: Otter K, Gomidova S, & Katz PS (2024) Social predation by a nudibranch mollusc, BioRxiv 2024.07.01.600874; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.01.600874
Former PhD student, Phoenix Quinlan found that Berghia can navigate using visual stimuli, indicating that it has spatial vision despite its extremely simple eyes. She also found that it readily tracks prey using olfactory cues. There is a strong interaction between these stimuli. The first of her papers has been published: Quinlan, PD & Katz PS (2023) State-dependent, visually-guided behaviors in the nudibranch Berghia stephanieae, Journal of Experimental Biology; jeb.245213. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.245213
Former postdoc, Cheyenne Tait studied reproductive behaviors. She identified several neuropeptides involved in reproductive behaviors including Egg Laying Hormone (ELH) and Conopressin, the molluscan ortholog of vasopressin / oxytocin. Some these results have been published
Tait CC, Olson MN, Nedeljkovic K, Kirchner E, and Katz PS (2024) Expression patterns and behavioral effects of conopressin and APGWamide in the nudibranch Berghia stephanieae, Peptides, 179: 171253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peptides.2024.171253
Tait CC, Ramirez MD, and Katz PS (2024) Egg-laying hormone expression in identified neurons across developmental stages and reproductive states of the nudibranch Berghia stephanieae, Hormones and Behavior, 164: 105578, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105578
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