Re: Aplysia brasiliana mass mortality

November 16, 1999
From: Mike Schmale

[Message forwarded by Anne Dupont]
    
Dear Ms. DuPont,

The animals in your photos are Aplysia brasiliana, one of the most common species of Aplysia in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico (I believe their range extends to South America). The other very common species here is A. dactylomela.

Sometimes in the winter and spring, especially in windy weather (on-shore winds), lots of dying animals will wash up on the beach. We believe that most Aplysia only live for about one year in the wild and that some of these may represent old, naturally dying animals. Also, these animals
often get smaller when they are near the end of life and so you can not really judge their age by their size in these old animals.

I hope this has been helpful. If you continue to see large numbers of dead Aplysia (or any other marine animal, for that matter), feel free to contact me.

Happy photographing (I'm amateur UW photographer myself),
Mike Schmale

Aplysia Website: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/
    
Michael C. Schmale, PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
University of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy.
Miami, FL 33149

mschmale@rsmas.miami.edu

Schmale, M., 1999 (Nov 16) Re: Aplysia brasiliana mass mortality. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1530

Mike Schmale's Aplysia Website at: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/, which I have referred to before, is well worth a visit.
Bill Rudman.

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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