Sea Slugs from South California

July 13, 1999
From: Lonnie

We have recently found a sea creature that appears to be a slug. It has a mostly round shape, brownish in color with several black spots one possibly a mouth? It was left behind at low tide near our sea wall. I would like to get to know if it is a slug as my children are afraid that it might be an extra large parasite or a leech which I am sure it is not. We live in Huntington Harbour in Southern California. The size is approximately 4" in diamater and more oval than round and does not have a tail. Underneath is has a main suction type area surrounded by flapish body (similar to the look of a ray.
If it is at all possible for you to reply by Email so I can put my children at ease and now satisfy my own curiousity I would greatly appreciate your time. We also have an abundance of jelly fishes at this time.
Looking forward to your response.

Lonnie

LGialketsi@aol.com

Gialketski, L., 1999 (Jul 13) Sea Slugs from South California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1052

Dear Lonnie,
I'm afraid I'm not an expert on Californian marine life but it is likely that your animal is a Sea Hare. The 'flappy' bits could be the parapodia on each side and the 'suction type area' could be the foot. Have a look at the page on Aplysia californica and the page on Sea Hares and read some of the messages on those pages for more information. If it is a Sea Hare they are quite safe to pick up. They may squirt out some red purple inkwhich is another good indicator that you have a Sea Hare.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Factsheet

Aplysia californica

Related messages

  1. Aplysia californica? from Peru
    From: Leonidas Mulluhara, June 3, 2010
  2. Re: Sea of Cortez Mystery Slug
    From: Jennifer Beatty, April 5, 2007
  3. Sea of Cortez Mystery Slug
    From: Jennifer Beatty, April 4, 2007
  4. Juvenile Californian Sea Hare & friends
    From: Kevin Lee, December 12, 2006
  5. Aplysia californica from California
    From: Shannon Fabre, May 17, 2006
  6. Aplysia californica from Sea Of Cortez
    From: Gerald Hinkler, April 15, 2006
  7. Aplysia californica at Puerto Penasco, Mexico?
    From: Parker Tastrom, March 22, 2006
  8. Juvenile Aplysia californica from Monterey, CA
    From: Clinton Bauder, July 8, 2005
  9. Can Aplysia californica eat kale?
    From: John Lopez, March 5, 2005
  10. Information on Aplysia californica
    From: Michael Navarro, February 8, 2005
  11. Aplysia californica from Santa Barbara Island
    From: Chris Grossman , June 30, 2003
  12. Re: Aplysia gigantea or A. californica?
    From: Jun Imamoto, March 3, 2003
  13. Aplysia californica inking
    From: Bill Rudman, March 3, 2003
  14. Aplysia gigantea? A. californica? from Japan
    From: Jun Imamoto, February 5, 2003
  15. Which slug is used for medical research?
    From: John H. Garrett III, September 17, 2002
  16. Keeping Aplysia in aquaria
    From: Jessica Helm, August 29, 2001
  17. Re: Keeping Aplysia in aquaria
    From: Tom Capo , August 29, 2001
  18. Photos of Aplysia californica
    From: Daniel Geiger, August 1, 2001
  19. Mass mortality of Aplysia californica
    From: Jose Luis Ochoa, March 24, 2001
  20. Sea Hare classification - A. californica
    From: Rachel Frank, December 31, 2000
  21. Aplysia for brain studies
    From: Alvin Wong, September 2, 2000
  22. Information on Aplysia californica
    From: Luiza Zonzini, April 20, 2000
  23. Re: HUGE Sea Hare
    From: Ron Velarde, December 15, 1999
  24. Re: HUGE Sea Hare
    From: Diane, December 10, 1999
  25. Is this a sea slug? It's HUGE!!
    From: Diane, December 9, 1999
  26. re: Need to know what we saw
    From: Eileen Steger, July 12, 1999
  27. Re: Sea Hares - mating chains
    From: Sigrid Schmalzer, July 12, 1999
  28. Re: Sea Hares - mating chains
    From: Sigrid Schmalzer, July 9, 1999
  29. Need to Know what we saw
    From: Eileen Steger, July 8, 1999
  30. Photos of Aplysia californica
    From: Daniel Geiger, March 12, 1999
  31. Urechis caupa or Aplysia californica
    From: barbara hansen, February 26, 1999
  32. Aplysia californica algal preference
    From: Christine Nguyen, January 3, 1999
  33. Photo request for Aplysia californica
    From: Panayotis Matsinopoulos, August 3, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages