Aplysia brasiliana
Rang, 1828

Order: ANASPIDEA
Superfamily: APLYSIOIDEA
Family: Aplysiidae

DISTRIBUTION

Atlantic Ocean. West Atlantic from New Jersey in the north to Brazil. East Atlantic from St Helena and Ghana in West Africa.

PHOTO

Captivia Island, west coast of Florida, USA, March 1999. PHOTOS: Anne Dupont. (See Anne Dupont's message below).

RELATED TOPIC

Aplysia morio

Note added 25 March 2004: See message #12545 proposing that A. brasiliana is a synonym of A. fasciata

Relatively large swimming Sea Hare growing up to 27cm long. Very variable in colour. The background colour can vary from translucent yellow, brown, gray, green or black, usually with irregular patches and mottling of different shades of brown and green, and often with lighter spots of white or yellow. There can also be veins and streaks of black or dark brown.

Reference:
• Eales, N.B. (1960) Revision of the world species of Aplysia (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology, 5(10): 267-404.
• Marcus, Ev. & Marcus, Er. (1955) Sea-hares and side-gilled slugs from Brazil. Boletim do Instituto Oceanografico, 6(1-2): 3-48.
• Marcus, Ev. & Marcus, Er. (1957) Notes on Aplysia. Boletim do Instituto Oceanografico 8(1-2): 3-22.
• Marcus, Ev. (1972) On the Anaspidea (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) of the warm waters of the western Atlantic. Bulletin of marine Science, 22(4): 841-874.
• Susswein, A.J., Markovitch, S. & Achituv, Y. (1993) Asymmetry of male and female mating in mixed-species groups of Aplysia fasciata Poiret and Aplysia brasiliana Rang (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Israel Journal of Zoology, 39: 213-229.
• Wirtz, P. (1998) Opisthobranch Molluscs from the Azores. Vita Marina, 45(1-2): 1-16

See Anne Dupont's message and my message for discussion on whether the animal photographed here is A. brasiliana.
See Paul Hamilton's message confirming its identity as A. brasiliana.
See the Sea Hares Page for more information on Sea Hares.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2001 (March 9) Aplysia brasiliana Rang, 1828. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aplybras

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