Swimming Aplysia in Portugal

August 20, 2007
From: Gary Leman

Location Portugal

Observed loads of these guys swimming to a 10 metre rocky location on a beach that was over 5 miles long. They only occupied the area for so long returning at the same time each day.

Locality: Armacoe de Pera, from intertidal to open ocean, Portugal, Atlantic, 10 August 2007, sandy bottom. Length: hand sized

How do they navigate ? How do they remember ?

I know that limited behavioural responses have been studied... like the nip reaction but after seeing these things they looked very intelligent.

At first I thought they were coming in on the tide to face a death by beaching, but after "rescuing" several.. each of them turned around and headed for the rocks again. All were eating seaweed on the rocks, but loose seaweed of the same type was washed up on the beach.

Anyone studied these movement patterns before ?
All comments gratefully received.

Gary Leman

garyleman@hotmail.com

Leman, G. P., 2007 (Aug 20) Swimming Aplysia in Portugal. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20469

Dear Gary,

This is almost certainly Aplysia fasciata, which is often found swimming in groups at certain times of the year. We also have many messages concerning a species in the western Atlantic, A. brasiliana, which is almost certainly the same species. Have a look at the General Topics List which has a whole section on Sea Hares, including pages on swimming, mass mortality, and other aspects of their lives. You may also be interested in the 'love drug' [see message #19464] which is apparently a powerful attractant, although I don't know if pheromones would work well on open beaches like you describe here.

There were a couple of papers some years ago on navigation in swimming Aplysia which I have listed below. I don't know if any of that work has been followed up. Concerning the looking intelligent - I think it says something about our brains. When they stare at you with their soulful eyes some neuron in the most primitive part of our brain must fire - just remember, their eyes don't even form images, and the very simplicity of their 'brain' is why they are such a popular experimental animal with scientists studying how brains work.

  • Hamilton, P. V. and Russell, B. J. (1982) Celestial orientation by surface-swimming Aplysia brasiliana Rang (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 56: 145-152.
  • Hamilton, P. V. and Russell, B. J. (1982) Field experiments on the sense organs and directional cues involved in offshore-orientated swimming by Aplysia brasiliana Rang (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 56: 123-143.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Aug 20). Comment on Swimming Aplysia in Portugal by Gary Leman. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20469

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