ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Aquatic Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicUncovering Physiological Mechanisms Of Aquatic Organisms Under Environmental Stress In A Changing ClimateView all articles
They can't stand the heat: Marine heatwaves and bleaching impair stress responses and reproduction of a photosynthetic symbiont-bearing sea slug
Provisionally accepted
- Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
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Marine heatwaves (MHW) are intensifying, causing mass bleaching events in coral reefs. While their ecological and socioeconomic impacts are well documented, their cascading effects on specialized organisms remain understudied. Here, we investigate the impact that MHW and feeding on bleached prey have on a stenophagous tropical nudibranch, Berghia stephanieae, by analysing its survival, reproduction, cellular stress response (CSR) and the photosynthetic activity of its endosymbionts. Thermal stress significantly reduced the number of eggs laid by B. stephanieae, while parental investment per egg was maintained. Moreover, exposure to a combination of MHW and bleached prey, impaired this nudibranch's CSR and reduced survival, indicating a performance breakdown. These findings highlight the vulnerability of such specialized predators to MHW and the need to integrate them in marine conservation strategies. With extreme climate events becoming more frequent and prolonged, species featuring specialized diets can be amongst those paying the highest toll.
Keywords: Berghia stephanieae, Exaiptasia diaphana, Extreme climate events, marine invertebrates, trophic impact
Received: 06 Oct 2025; Accepted: 11 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Silva, Madeira, Cartaxana and Calado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ruben X.G. Silva
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