Sea Hare Question

May 15, 2002
From: Dana Keith Farnsworth

Hello!
Being a diver who is more than very interested in identifying fish and sea creatures, I was blown away when this thing swam by the shore at my camp site while I was at Canaveral national Seashore in Florida. I have never seen one before, and was completely interested in discovering what it was. I guessed that it was a giant snail that somehow was seperated from its shell. Pretty good guess .... Using Paul Humman's Identifying Sea Creatures, I found that it was a Sea Hare. After reviewing your site, I believe he is a Aplysia brasiliana Rang, 1828. However, I'm not sure what the growth like thing on its back is. It was circular and seemed fixed. Can you help? Is it the undeveloped internal shell I've been reading about?
Thanks,
Dana

Dana.Farnsworth@astrazeneca.com

Farnsworth, D. K., 2002 (May 15) Sea Hare Question. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6946

Dear Dana,
Yes your animal is almost certainly A. brasiliana and the lump on its back is what remains of the shell and mantle cavity its snail ancestors would have had. If you are interested in how snails became slugs have a look at the What is a slug? page. If you are interested in learning more about Sea Hares the Sea Hare page will give you links to a lot of background information including a page showing some shells of Sea Hares and their relatives.

A good photo of the mantle cavity can be seen on the Syphonota geographica page.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (May 15). Comment on Sea Hare Question by Dana Keith Farnsworth. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/6946

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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