Current Biology, Volume 15, Issue 6, 29 March 2005, Pages
549-554 Cynthia E. Kicklighter, Shkelzen Shabani, Paul M.
Johnson and Charles D. Derby Numerous studies have demonstrated
that chemical defenses protect prey from predation
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7] and have often assumed that these defenses
function by repelling predators. Surprisingly, few have
investigated the mechanisms whereby predators are affected by
these defenses [8, 9,8, 9]. Here, we examine mechanisms of
chemical defense of sea hares (Aplysia californica), which, when
attacked by spiny lobsters (Panulirus interruptus), release
defensive secretions from ink and opaline glands [10, 11,10,
11]. We show that ink-opaline facilitates the escape of sea
hares by acting through a combination of novel and conventional
mechanisms. Ink-opaline contains millimolar quantities of amino
acids that stimulate chemoreceptor neurons in the spiny
lobster’s nervous system. Ink stimulates appetitive and
ingestive behavior, opaline can elicit appetitive behavior but
can also