Abstract
UNLIKE certain photophobic flatworms used in behaviour studies1–5, the marine polyclad Gnesiocerus sargassicola exhibits a dramatic ‘rearing’ response when the light intensity is lowered. Within a second after a sudden decrease in light intensity all the animals synchronously raise and wave around the anterior part of their bodies while ‘standing’ on their posteriors. Even more striking, a few members of the variety lata actually leap from the substratum and swim. As observed by Hyman6, G. sargassicola lata is “very quick and active” and swims “prettily by a rapid butterfly-like fluttering of the anterior expansions”. This communication describes some of the characteristics of the rearing response.
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LENHOFF, H. Rearing Response of a Marine Flatworm to the Lowering of Light Intensity. Nature 201, 841–842 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/201841b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/201841b0
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