Frilled Sea Hare in Florida

February 28, 2000
From: Michelle van Deventer

I live on a canal system on Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida. I noticed an incredible creature crawling around under my boat dock in only about 7 inches of water on a very muddy/silt bottom. After studying it for some time, then checking out this website, I'm pretty sure it was a Bursatella leachii plei. I hoped you could answer a few questions:

How common are these creatures in Bay areas and Intracoastal Waterways? Is it rare for them to venture into a canal systems? This was about 8 inches long, and had a thumbnail-sized opening on it's back that would regularly open and close, excreting a white pellet about the size of a peanut. What was this?

Do they normally travel in groups or is it more common to find single specimens? Are they prey to any of the bird species, such as herons or egrets?

Thank you for any additional information you can provide.

Michelle

mvande@home.com

van Deventer, M., 2000 (Feb 28) Frilled Sea Hare in Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1982

Dear Michelle,
I have no personal knowledge of the region you are asking about, but Bursatella leachii is certainly common in sheltered bays and estuarine regions with sand or muddy bottoms. A couple of the messages below yours on this page talk about the possible problems large populations of them cause in prawn ponds, so canals would probably be a good place to find them. To answer your questions I suspect they would be very common at some times of the year in such places. Have a look at my answer to the Lee Wiesenfeld's question where I talk about research that he records examples where local populations can reach enormous numbers and densities of 660 individuals per square metre .. enough to interfere with the local shrimp fishery.

Bursatella leachii feeds mainly on blue-green algae which can form thick mats over muddy shores and films over larger macroalgae.

The white pellet it excretes is most likely a faecal pellet. In Aplysiids the mantle cavity, shell, gill and anal papilla are hidden by the parapodia which are a flap of skin on each side of the body which fold over and meet in the midline of the back. If you have a look at the Sea Hares Page it will get a basic idea of their shape.

Do they travel in groups? They certainly are usually found in large numbers, although at times only a few animals will be found.

Do birds or anything else eat them? As far as I know nothing is commonly known to feed on them as a regular source of food. Sea Hares, like most sea slugs have glands in their skin which produce noxious or distasteful secretions which tend to deter most likely predators. Have a look at the pages on Defensive Glands in Sea Slugs and Defence in Sea Hares.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Feb 28). Comment on Frilled Sea Hare in Florida by Michelle van Deventer. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1982

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Bursatella leachii

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