Sea Hares? from Jervis Bay, New South Wales

April 28, 1999
From: Terese and Ngaere

ON the beach at Callala beach on Jervis Bay, NSW we found heaps of sea slug looking type of creature washed ashore on 25/04/99. We are curious as to what they are. They were brown in colour with no particular markings although they had flaps on either side of their body which went about 3/4 of the way along their body, they were approx. 6 inches long and were flat underneath however they were fat and rounded on top. They had a tail,antenae on their head which was almost squre shaped. Also what took our interest in particular was a membrane type thing that appeared to shed as they dried out,and harden.It was a pale orange colour and plastic like as it dried. Is it possible that this may be shed from the animal and be the opalised orange shells found on beaches around the area?

Terese and Ngaere

anagram@shoal.net.au

Dear Terese and Ngaere,
I think your animals were Sea Hares, which are a type of Sea Slug. Have a look at the top of this page for some pictures and information on Sea Hares. Your species probably belong to the genus Aplysia. If you click on Search the Forum and type in Aplysia you will find a whole list of references to information on them in the Sea Slug Forum.

The 'membrane type thing' you noticed was their thin flattened shell which tends to crack and break when it dries out because has very little calcium carbonate, the chemical that makes snail shells strong. I have put a photo alongside of the fragile flattened shell of a Sea Hare. I am not sure of which species it is, but they all look very similar.

I suspect the 'opalised orange shells' you find on the beaches are something quite different. I think they are single valves of the bivalve (clam) Anomia or Monia which are often called 'jingle shells' or 'window oysters'. There shells are sometimes strung up for wind chimes hence the name 'jingle shell' and the shells of a large species in the northwestern Pacific, are fairly transparent and so called 'Window Oysters'. I have no idea if they were ever used for windows.

If you look through the Forum you will see that Sea Hares are often found washed up on beaches in large numbers.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Apr 28). Comment on Sea Hares? from Jervis Bay, New South Wales by Terese and Ngaere. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/808

Factsheet

What are Sea Hares?

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