Re: Dolabella auricularia and burrowing

March 19, 2001
From: Don Barclay

Hello Bill,
About your question about whether Dolabella auricularia come out of the sand to feed at night, the answer seems to be a qualified "yes." They certainly aren't out in the day time (though I have seen them in the day time in Tonga), but only a fraction of the population will be visible crawling on the surface even at night. This leads me to believe they don't come out every night, or else they come out in shifts and feed at different times.

Since November, I have snorkeled the Kitano Tusitala area of Western Samoa about ten times at night, at most phases of the moon and tide, and I typically see four or five sea hares in a couple hours in the water. If you contrast that with the number you can "dig up" in the same area during the day, it seems to indicate that they probably don't come out to feed every night.

The sea hares that are buried deepest are often in sand that appears compacted, like it hasn't been disturbed for some time. They will be flattened into a disc, and tend to remain flattened unless you punch them off the substrate. Then it only takes a few seconds for them to inflate their bodies and start crawling.

I hope these observations help. I'm sure there must be others who have found this species under similar circumstances (other than the Prosobranch guys, who poke them out of the way without a thought like I always did).

Take care,
Don

n5ols@samoatelco.com

Barclay, D., 2001 (Mar 19) Re: Dolabella auricularia and burrowing. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4009

Thanks Don,
This is fascinating stuff. Any future ecological study will have to take this third dimension into account when planning how to sample populations. I have had a bit of a look through the scientific literature and can't find any indication that anyone has considered that these animals are deep burrowers.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Mar 19). Comment on Re: Dolabella auricularia and burrowing by Don Barclay. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4009

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