ABSTRACT
Opisthobranchs are marine gastropod molluscs, the shell of which is either reduced or
completely absent. Many chemical studies have been performed in order to investigate
their surprising immunity from predators. An annual summary of the chemical liter-
ature on marine organisms is provided by Faulkner (e.g. 2000) and includes studies of
opisthobranch molluscs. The same author also discussed their chemical defense
(Faulkner, 1992). Ecological aspects were discussed, first by Karuso (1987), and then by
Cimino and Sodano (1989) for nudibranchs, by Carefoot (1987) and by Yamada and
Kigoshi (1997) for anaspideans. Faulkner and Ghiselin (1983) were the first to link
chemistry of opisthobranchs to evolution; more recently, evolutionary aspects were also
discussed by Cimino and Ghiselin for sacoglossans (1998) and dorid nudibranchs
(1999). Biosynthetic studies were summarized by Cimino and Sodano (1993), by Garson
(1993) and by Davies-Coleman and Garson (1998). Dietary relationships with sponges
were reviewed by Cimino and Sodano (1994), and finally, very recently, a complete
overview of the chemistry and ecology of sacoglossans and dorids was published
(Cimino et al., 1999).
