Identification of an Elysia from Hong Kong

February 5, 2005
From: Allen To

Dear Bill
I recently retrieved a sea hare in a fish tank at the only marine reserve in Hong Kong, China. The reserve is at southern part of Hong Kong. The fish tank has a circulation system that direclty receives sea water from nearby waters so the sea hare probably get "sucked" into the tank. I have spent some time looking through available info on the web in search of the sea hare ID but none seems to match very well. I would be much grateful if you could help give me info on the ID of this sea hare. Attached is the picture of that 3cm sea hare.

Locality: Marine Reserve, Hong Kong, China, South China Sea. in fish tank. Length: ~3 cm. Dec 2004. Photographer: Andy Cornish

Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Allen

allenwlto@yahoo.com

To, W.L., 2005 (Feb 5) Identification of an Elysia from Hong Kong. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12934

Dear Allen,
This is not a Sea Hare, but is a member of another group of Sea Slugs - the Sacoglossans. It is a species of Elysia but I can't recall a species with black lines on the head, as in your animal. Sacoglossans are quite interesting because they feed by sucking cell contents out of green algal cells. Some of them have become solar powered by retaining chloroplasts, the part of the plant cell which photosynthesises, alive and functioning in their own bodies. The dark green patches you can see in your photos, especially on the inside of the parapodia, are accumulations of chloroplasts. The lower right photo is a close-up of one of your photos to show the branching network of blood vessels found throughout the parapodia, no doubt associated with the high metabolic activity occurring there.

Concerning the identity of your species. Hopefully Kathe Jensen will be able to give us some clues to its identity.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Feb 5). Comment on Identification of an Elysia from Hong Kong by Allen To. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/12934

Factsheet

Elysia hirasei

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