Numerous biologists (malacologists) and citizen scientists, including many scuba divers, study the marine mollusks known as opisthobranchs, which are a large and diverse group of shelled and (mostly) shell-less, saltwater gastropods, the common name for which is sea slugs (including nudibranchs, sacoglossans, etc) and bubble snails. Symposia and workshops on opisthobranchs are meetings where those who specialize in studying these animals meet in order to share ideas, information, and knowledge.
History
Meetings of an informal group of opisthobranch scientists have occurred in the past. Numerous examples are listed on the Sea Slug Forum website.Website, Sea Slug Forum, "Conferences and meetings" Rudman, W.B., 2001 (January 21) , accessed 2016-3-6
A few are listed here:
1st International Workshop of Opisthobranchs, Menfi, Italy, 1999. 2nd International Workshop on Opisthobranchia, Bonn, Germany, 2006.Website, Sea Slug Forum, "International Workshop on Opisthobranchia - Bonn", by Heike Waegele, April 6, 2006, accessed 2016-3-6 3rd International Workshop on Opisthobranchs, Vigo, Spain, 2010.Website, Sea Slug Forum, "3rd International Workshop on Opisthobranchia - Registration" by Jesús Troncoso, January 29, 2010, accessed 2016-3-6 4th International Workshop on Opisthobranchs, Santa Cruz, USA, 24–27 June 2012 Website University of Bergen, "IVth International Workshop on Opisthobranchs By MANUEL ANTÓNIO E. MALAQUIAS, Date: 11.07.2012, Accessed 2016-3-6
5th International Workshop on Opisthobranchs, Porto, Portugal, 2015
Planned workshop
6th International Workshop on Heterobranchs, Perth, Australia, 2018
Other meet-ups listed on Sea Slug Forum:Website, Sea Slug Forum, "Conferences and meetings" Rudman, W.B., 2001 (January 21) , accessed 2016-3-6
1st opisthobranch course in Venezuela, 2006 Molluscan Forum, London, 2006 Malacological conference in Ukraine, 2006 Opisthobranch Symposium, Seattle, USA, 2006 World Congress of Malacology, Perth, 2003 Western Society of Malacologists Annual Meeting, 2003 Announcing a course on Mollusca, 2002 World Congress of Malacology, Perth, 2004 WSM Opisthobranch Talks, July 2002 Opisthobranch Symposium at WSM, June 2001
A day to celebrate sea slugs A concept which has been raised at these meetings is the idea of a calendar day on which to celebrate nudibranchs or sea slugs in general. In 2015, in Southern California, "Sea Slug Day" was October 29, "the birthday of Terry Gosliner from the San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences"Website, last, "It's Sea Slug Day: Here Are 8 Adorable Ones You Can Find in SoCal", by Carmen TSE Oct 29, 2015, 5:45 pm, , Accessed 2016.3.7 (Gosliner is an expert on nudibranchs). Alternatively, "International Nudibranch Day" was suggested in Australia.
References
External links The Sea Slug Forum, International Nudibranchs of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia The Slug Site Sea Slugs of Hawaii