Sea Hare? swimming in Florida

April 27, 1999
From: Esat Atikkan

Sighted during night dive:
in ~ 70ft
West Palm Beach, FL

A. californica-like organism

Uniformly light-medium brown, swimming, sizes 10-20 cm. No markings. Encountered in 'swarms'; 100's of them swimming few cm to 10's of cm above the reef & reef bubble

Swims using mantles, in between of which is a bulbous structure.

Any help in ID will be appreciated

Esat Atikkan

atikkan@juno.com

Atikkan, E., 1999 (Apr 27) Sea Hare? swimming in Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/816

Dear Esat,
It certainly sounds like a Sea Hare. Perhaps its Aplysia brasiliana which occurs in Florida.

A number of species of Aplysia can swim by flapping or undulating their large parapodia. Species I know about include:
Aplysia brasiliana (West Atlantic)
Aplysia depilans (East Atlantic)
Aplysia fasciata (East Atlantic)
Aplysia extraordinaria (east Australia)

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Apr 27). Comment on Sea Hare? swimming in Florida by Esat Atikkan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/816

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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