Brown & white Aplysia morio? from Florida

April 26, 2005
From: Douglas Ebersole

Thanks for your help. This Sea Hare was found in about three feet of water just east of the Blue Heron Blvd Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida. Basically it was about 10 feet from shore, about 6-8 inches long, and about 3 inches in diameter.

Locality: Riviera Beach, Florida, USA. Atlantic Ocean. Depth: 3 feet. Length: 8 inches. 15 April 2005. rocky, muddy bottom near bridge pilings. Photographer: Douglas Ebersole

It was swimming slowly on the bottom in and amongst the debris in the shallows. It is similar in size and shape to an Atlantic Black Seahare (Aplysia morio) but the coloration is different.

Douglas Ebersole

debersole@pol.net

Ebersole, D., 2005 (Apr 26) Brown & white Aplysia morio? from Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13568

Dear Doug,
I don't know of any Sea Hare with this colouration. What I suspect is that it is an animal near the end of its life in which the outer layers of its skin are beginning to rub off. I have certainly seen 'geriatric' sea hares with much of the pigment layers of the skin rubbed off, and yet the animal was stilable to crawl. contract and swim - if rather slowly. If this is what is happening here, I must say that it is losing its colour layers in a very symmetrical way, but it's either that, or else you have a strange colour form of either Aplysia morio or perhaps A. brasiliana.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Apr 26). Comment on Brown & white Aplysia morio? from Florida by Douglas Ebersole. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13568

Factsheet

Aplysia morio

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