Giant Brown Sea Hares at Fremantle, Western Australia

March 3, 2010
From: Joanna Robertson

This morning Greg Rose-Innes and Noreen Robertson were swimming at "Dog Beach" in South Fremantle, Western Australia and saw two healthy 2.5 foot long sea hares swimming along in one meter of clear, still water. This evening there was an exceptionally high tide at the beach - I understand they are mostly seen at high tide around this time of year. Last year we saw 2 dying ones on the beach and a couple of 5 year old kids played with them and put them back into the sea. Afterwards we read that the purple ink the squirt is toxic..? The kids never show any ill side effects, but I understand their slime is poisonous to dogs.

Locality: Dog Beach, South Fremantle, 1 meter, Western Australia, INdian Ocean, 25 February 2010, very calm, clear, turquoise water. Length: 2.5 feet

Joanna Robertson

info@creativecourses.com

Robertson, J., 2010 (Mar 3) Giant Brown Sea Hares at Fremantle, Western Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23285

Dear Joanna,

The Western Australian Aplysia gigantea is one of the biggest species of Sea Hare. If you look at earlier messages attached to that Fact Sheet you will find quite a discussion on the toxicity of the dying animals - especially to dogs.

As far as I know the source of the toxicity is unknown but it is unlikely to be the purple ink which seems to be a byproduct of digestion associeted with eating red algae. If you go to the General Topics list [top left og page] you will find a section on Sea Hares which has links to many pages on Sea Hare biology, including their ink.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Mar 3). Comment on Giant Brown Sea Hares at Fremantle, Western Australia by Joanna Robertson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23285

Factsheet

Aplysia gigantea

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