HOMARINE AS A FEEDING DETERRENT IN COMMON SHALLOW-WATER ANTARCTIC LAMELLARIAN GASTROPOD MARSENIOPSIS-MOLLIS - A RARE EXAMPLE OF CHEMICAL DEFENSE IN A MARINE PROSOBRANCH

The common bright yellow antarctic lamellarian gastropod Marseniopsis mollis was examined for the presence of defensive chemistry. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy indicated that a major component of ethanolic extracts purified by reversed-phase column chromatography was homarine. Further high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the mantle, foot, and viscera verified the presence of homarine in all body tissues at concentrations ranging from 6 to 24 mg/g dry tissue. A conspicuous macroinvertebrate predator of the shallow antarctic benthos, the sea star Odontaster validus, always rejected live individuals of M. mollis, while readily feeding on pieces of fish tail muscle. Filter paper disks treated with shrimp elicited a broad range of feeding behaviors in the sea star O. validus (movement of disc to mouth, extrusion of cardiac stomach, humped feeding posture). Shrimp disks treated with homarine (0.4 and 4 mg/disk) were rejected by O. validus significantly more frequently than control disks treated with solvent carrier and shrimp or shrimp alone. The highest concentration of homarine tested not only caused feeding deterrence, but in several sea stars a flight response was noted. Homarine was not detected in the tunic of the antarctic ascidian Cnemidocarpa verrucosa, a presumed primary prey of M. mollis. Nonetheless, crude extracts of the epizooites that foul the tunic (primarily the bryozoans and hydroids) contain homarine, suggesting M. mollis may ingest and derive its chemistry from these organisms. This appears to be only the third example of chemical defense in a member of the Order Mesogastropoda. As the vestigial internalized shell of M. mollis is considered a primitive condition, the findings of this study lend support to the hypothesis that chemical defense evolved prior to shell loss in shell-less gastropods.