The sea slug Aplysia californica (pictured) has for years been the subject of learning studies, which have shown that the creature retracts its head, gills and tail defensively much more quickly in response to innocuous stimuli after receiving a strong electric shock. But there are no electric shocks in the lives of wild sea slugs, so why do they learn better when zapped with electricity?
William Wright and his colleagues at Chapman University in Orange, California, found that after an attack by a natural predator, the California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), sea slugs showed a heightened withdrawal reflex much like that of shocked slugs. So scientists have unwittingly been playing the part of the lobster all along.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Animal behaviour: Lobster shock. Nature 467, 8 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467008d
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/467008d
