The Mediterranean aeolid nudibranch 'Cratena peregrina'. Feeding rates and behaviour

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Biology - Behaviour, grade: 1,0, University of Rostock (Biowissenschaften), language: English, abstract: In order to investigate the feeding behaviour and the feeding rate of Cratena peregrina, two different experiments were conducted. Behaviour experiments were performed in a tank and feeding rate experiments in a beaker. A total of 31 individuals was tested, 22 hours each, with full surveillance in during the trials. There are three major research hypotheses investigated in this study: 1) Cratena peregrina is able to locate Eudendrium spec. colonies in its surrounding. 2) Cratena peregrina feeds systematically on the hydroid colonies. 3) The feeding rate correlates with the length of the molluscs. This study was also conducted regarding possible contribution to the biomedical field, concerning the handling and observation of nudibranch specie. Moreover, it hopes to reveal useful information for further studies about the biology and ecology of nudibranchs. For these purposes, two tests were developed: one for evaluating the feeding behaviour of Cratena peregrina and one for determining the feeding rate of the individuals.