Aplysia punctata from Croatia

March 4, 2005
From: Andrej Jaklin


Dear Bill,
I'm sending you three pictures of presumably Aplysia punctata. All the characteristics fit to the descriptions found in literature except one tiny detail. All three specimens collected bear small dark brown spots with white centre, which make them eye like. And that should be the characteristic of another species, A. oculifera from the Red Sea.

Moreover, I found the same spots on some pictures of A. parvula from Erwin's MEDSLUG site! That raises some questions in my head and really would like to see your comment, as well as from others on the Forum.

Locality: Vrsar, Croatia, Northern Adriatic. Depth: 2 m. Length: approx 60 mm. 22 Feb 2005. Caulerpa racemosa settlement. Photographer: Dr. Bojan Hamer [in aquarium]

Best regards,
AJ

jakin@cim.irb.hr

Jaklin, A., 2005 (Mar 4) Aplysia punctata from Croatia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13270

Dear Andrej,
Sea Hares can at times be quite difficult to identify from photos. Both European species, A. depilans and A. punctata have the parapodia joined quite high at the back of the animal, as does A. parvula. In A. oculifera the  parapodia are not really joined posteriorly. If your animal has a large opening or foramen in the mantle, through which the shell can be seen, then its most likely to be A. punctata or possibly A. parvula. See my earlier comments [message #1435] on the difficulty of separating those two species.

Concerning 'eye spots'. Other species do sometimes have some. For example the photos of Aplysia parvula  from Senegal [message #10382] show some good eye spots. This doesn't really answer your question. I think the best way to identify species of Aplysia is to become familiar with your local populations. Once you have an idea of expected colour variablity, it is usually much simpler to identify each population to a species.  I realise that it is always possible that an unusual interloper will appear, but if you know the local  species reasonably well, the stray one will be fairly obvious.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Mar 4). Comment on Aplysia punctata from Croatia by Andrej Jaklin. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13270

Factsheet

Aplysia punctata

Related messages

  1. Re: Aplysia punctata mating, spawning and variations
    From: Joao Pedro Tojal Loia Soares Silva, October 3, 2007
  2. Aplysia punctata from the Western Isles, Scotland
    From: Lindsay Bradley, October 3, 2007
  3. Aplysia punctata mating, spawning and variations
    From: Joao Pedro Silva, August 20, 2007
  4. Aplysia punctata mating
    From: Jim Anderson, August 20, 2007
  5. Re: Appetitive behaviour in Aplysia
    From: Mark Henry, August 22, 2006
  6. Appetitive behaviour in Aplysia
    From: Mark Henry, August 21, 2006
  7. Markings on Aplysia punctata
    From: Mark Henry, August 17, 2006
  8. A summer spawn of Aplysia punctata
    From: Mark.Henry, August 15, 2006
  9. Sea Hare from Lochiver, Northwest Scotland
    From: Colin Robertson, March 28, 2006
  10. Spanish Sea Hares
    From: Sascha Schulz, February 20, 2006
  11. Sea Hare from Spain
    From: Raul Castro, December 17, 2005
  12. Aplysia punctata from Scotland
    From: Cherry Welsh, August 19, 2005
  13. Juvenile Aplysia from Norway
    From: Kåre Telnes, July 30, 2005
  14. Aplysia from Croatia
    From: Andrej Jaklin, March 4, 2005
  15. Age determination of Aplysia punctata
    From: Marta K. Soffker, February 18, 2005
  16. Aplysia punctata mating
    From: Jim Anderson, November 27, 2003
  17. Aplysia punctata from French Mediterranean
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, July 19, 2003
  18. Aplysia punctata (adult) from French Brittany
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, April 29, 2003
  19. Aplysia punctata (juvenile) from French Brittany
    From: Marina Poddubetskaia, April 29, 2003
  20. Aplysia punctata in aquarium
    From: Michael, November 10, 2002
  21. Re: commensal bivalve & Aplysia
    From: Dr.Stephen R Hoskins, June 18, 2002
  22. Re: Commensal bivalve - Sea Hare
    From: Dr. Stephen R. Hoskins, June 17, 2002
  23. Re: galeommatoidean commensal on Aplysia?
    From: Serge Gofas , June 13, 2002
  24. Aplysia punctata and commensal? bivalve.
    From: Stephen Hoskins, June 8, 2002
  25. Aplysia punctata in Germany
    From: Peter Gleisenstein , May 31, 2002
  26. Aplysia punctata & 'passengers'
    From: Dr. Stephen Hoskins, May 16, 2002
  27. Aplysia punctata from Portugal
    From: João Tojal Silva, April 23, 2002
  28. Aplysia punctata defensive mechanism
    From: Marilyn Jackson, December 13, 2000
  29. What does Aplysia punctata eat?
    From: Trevor Shand, August 7, 2000
  30. Observations on Aplysia punctata
    From: Andy Horton, October 2, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages