Sea Hares washed up in Devon, UK
April 9, 2008
From: Rob Benzies
Found last week 2 red brown 7 inch long eliptical 4 inch wide jelly masses, on Slapton beach, Devon at low tide. Their back seemed to open up to reveal a similar smaller mass but pointing the other way and very tapered. The main mass was oozing in movement and had 2 snail like anterior antennae.
Surprisingly we found more days later in a state of decomposition - oozing a staining purple dye. I photographed the latter.
Locality: Slapton Beach, Devon, shoreline, England, Atlantic, 9 Oct 07, long shingle beach. Length: 7 in. Photographer: Rob Benzies.
Rob Benzies
robbenzies@aol.com
Benzies, R., 2008 (Apr 9) Sea Hares washed up in Devon, UK. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20973Dear Rob,
From your description and the photos your sad jelly masses were washed up Sea Hares. If you go to the Fact Sheet you will find quite a bit of background information. Have a look at the attached meesages for further information and links. I am pretty sure the species you found was Aplysia fasciata which can use the large flaps [ = parapodia] shown in your upper photo for swimming. The purple ink is a very characteristic feature of most sea hares. In some parts of the world sea hares can wash up in incredibly large numbers [see Mass Mortality Fact Sheet].
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Re: Aplysia brasiliana = Aplysia fasciata?
From: Bill West, February 13, 2009 -
Variation in egg mass color in Brazilian Aplysia fasciata
From: Vinicius Padula, July 10, 2008 -
Aplysia fasciata from Portugal
From: Valter Jacinto, July 2, 2008 -
Swimming sea slug in France
From: Tim Twibell, October 4, 2007 -
Aplysia fasciata in western France
From: Michael Keys, September 3, 2007 -
Swimming Aplysia in Portugal
From: Gary Leman, August 20, 2007 -
Unidentified Sea Slug from Spain
From: David Gilbert, July 18, 2007 -
Have I been poisoned?
From: Pete Baker, July 17, 2007 -
Aplysia fasciata and A. punctata from Antibes
From: Dominique Horst, June 1, 2007 -
Aplysia fasciata from Greece
From: Hilary Cunliffe-Charlesworth, September 11, 2006 -
Aplysia fasciata? from the Canary Islands
From: Christian Kowalewski, August 21, 2006 -
Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Oeiras, Portugal
From: Ricardo Gomes Afonso, August 9, 2006 -
Are those 3 all Aplysia fasciata ?
From: Stephane Ores, June 9, 2006 -
Sea Hare from Cyprus
From: Helen Coombes, June 7, 2006 -
Aplysia fasciata? from Sao Paulo, Brazil
From: Armando de Luca Jr, March 16, 2006 -
Aplysia fasciata in Portugal
From: Mark Williams, January 28, 2006 -
A swimming Sea Hare from Brittany
From: Kate Bryant, December 5, 2005 -
Re: Aplysia fasciata in Spain
From: Job Tammens, October 14, 2005 -
Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Portugal
From: John Richardson, September 17, 2005 -
Swimming slug from France
From: Robyn Mason-Holt, August 26, 2005 -
Re: Swimming Slug from Greece
From: Graham Smith, July 25, 2005 -
Swimming Aplysia from Greece
From: K. Tzouvali, D. Pettas, April 20, 2005 -
Happy New Year
From: Elif Özgür, December 31, 2004 -
Swimming Sea Hare from Turkey
From: Elif Özgür, December 29, 2004 -
Aplysia fasciata? from Rio de Janeiro
From: Vinicius Padula Anderson, March 25, 2004 -
Aplysia brasiliana = Aplysia fasciata?
From: Bill Rudman, March 25, 2004 -
Sea Hare? swimming
From: A. Agnost, January 6, 2004 -
Andalucian sea creature
From: Peter Stanford, November 17, 2003 -
Re: Aplysia fasciata from Cape Verde Islands
From: Gérard Breton, September 24, 2003 -
Aplysia fasciata from Cape Verde Islands
From: Gérard Breton, August 20, 2003 -
Re: Aplysia from Mediterranean France
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, July 21, 2003 -
Aplysia from Mediterranean France
From: Marina Poddubetskaia , July 19, 2003 -
Aplysia fasciata: 2 colour forms from Senegal
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, June 27, 2003 -
Juvenile of Aplysia fasciata from Senegal
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, June 27, 2003 -
Aplysia fasciata from Israel
From: Bella Galil, May 6, 2003 -
Mottled Aplysia fasciata swimming
From: Joao Pedro Silva, May 3, 2003 -
Re: Aplysia fasciata in Spain
From: Job Tammens, November 27, 2002 -
Swimming Aplysia fasciata (2)
From: Job Tammens and Cisca Dekker, November 22, 2002 -
Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Spain
From: Job Tammens , November 20, 2002 -
Aplysia fasciata swimming
From: Joao Pedro Tojal Silva, November 7, 2002 -
Re: Unknown egg mass from Turkey
From: Erwin Koehler, October 19, 2002 -
Re: Swimming Slug from Greece
From: George Sherman, August 6, 2002 -
Swimming slug? from Greece
From: George Sherman, July 13, 2002 -
'sea-bat' from southwestern France
From: Xavier, July 10, 2002 -
Aplysia fasciata from Portugal
From: João Pedro Silva, June 28, 2002 -
Aplysia fasciata from Portugal
From: Joao Pedro Silva, December 15, 2001 -
Mass Congregation of Aplysia fasciata
From: Hans Rothauscher, February 23, 2001