Secretive Slugs May Unlock WA’s Hidden Marine Biodiversity

In collaboration with international experts, Curtin University researchers are searching WA’s northern coastline for an essential and abundant but little-known group of marine slugs, the Onchidiidae.

These air-breathing slugs live on rocky and muddy shores, hiding at high tide and emerging at low tide to feed and reproduce, playing a significant role in coastal ecosystems. However, despite their high numbers, they’ve never been adequately documented along any part of Australia’s coastline until now.

Visiting from Pennsylvania State University, Adjunct Professor Benoît Dayrat from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the research filled a crucial knowledge gap. WA’s northern coastline is incredibly biodiverse, rivaling the Great Barrier Reef, yet there are many species we still know very little about. More than 5000 marine species in the Pilbara and many more in the Kimberley have been documented over the past few decades, however groups such as the Onchidiidae family of marine slugs, remain poorly understood. This project places a microscope on these slugs, which might seem unremarkable but hold valuable clues about our coastal ecosystems, how they function, and how they might be protected.

Part of the eDGES (eDNA for Global Environmental Studies) partnership between Curtin University and BHP, the project