John Murray: Sensory World of Sea Slugs

During my time at the Salish Seas, I attended multiple presentations by amazing scientists and artists. One of the presentations was by James Murray from Cornell University. He talked about his work with the neuronal behavior of sea slugs.

Murray's overall research was about the functions of nerves in the slug. He was especially interested in what caused sea slugs to move against the tide. To understand this behavior, he cut nerves that were connected to the slug's oral veil. He believed that the oral veil could disorient the slugs, but they still continued to move against the current. I don't know the current status of the research - whether they found the answer or they are still looking.

Murray also presented about his experiments with the slug circadian rhythm. He found that the slugs had increased activity immediately after lights were turned off, but the activity became normal after the slugs got used to the dark. Some of his other research included sea slug predatory behavior.

Murray's presentation was very interesting. Not only did I get to hear about the interesting research taking place in Friday Harbor Labs, but I also learned about the nerves, neurons, and senses of sea slugs. With our new knowledge, it was interesting to spot the different parts of the sea slugs we found. The lecture also inspired one of my friends to do a research project about currents and sea slugs.