Sea hares everywhere, Coastal Alabama

September 4, 2002
From: Becky Roland

I am a graduate student at the University of South Alabama. Every year we conduct an annual beach survey to measure sand movement. This year while conducting our surveys I noticed many sea hare bodies laying all over the beach and in the swash zone soon to be deposited on the beach(August 13th and 14th).

I have seen sea hares in Panama City, FL at Saint Andrews State park; however, I have never encountered them while swimming along Alabama's coast. Can someone tell me if they are usually found here and why they would be washing onto the shore? I think I saw two different species. The larger ones were a deep reddish/purple color and the smaller ones had a light brown color with darker spots.

Thanks,
Becky

rolanrm@hotmail.com

Roland, R., 2002 (Sep 4) Sea hares everywhere, Coastal Alabama. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7801

Dear Becky,
If you have a look at the pages on Aplysia morio and Aplysia brasiliana you will see many reports of these 2 species occurring at times in large swarms in Florida. Your descriptions suggests you probably have the same 2 species doing the same thing in Alabama.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (Sep 4). Comment on Sea hares everywhere, Coastal Alabama by Becky Roland. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7801

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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