Big Sea slug from Western Australia
March 31, 2008
From: Suzy Galloway
Hi ,
I was walking along Safety Bay, Near Rockingham (Perth, Western Australia) and found on the beach a big sea slug. At first I thought it might have been whale blubber because it was covered in sand. I poked it with my sandal because I was scared of it. It kind of bounced back so I rolled it into the ocean again, But it was dead.
The slug would of been about 2 feet long ( 500 mm). I recognised it was a slug in the water because I could see it's eyes (the long bits) and it had a big foot. The colour was dark brown and when in the water a purple colour came out of it, like blood. It was wierd and I didn't even realise we had them here.
Locality: Safety Bay WA, On beach, Australia WA, Indian Ocean, 28 march 2008. Clear blue water but dead on beach. Length: 500 mm.
Sad to see it was dead.
Looked up on internet to see if I could find one and came across this site.
Suzy Galloway
suzy.gall@bigpond.com
Galloway, S., 2008 (Mar 31) Big Sea slug from Western Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21482Dear Suzy,
This is a sea hare, the purple ink is a giveaway. It is almost certainly Aplysia gigantea, which is a large species found in Western Australia which often washes up like this in large numbers. If you are not familiar with this website go to the Aplysia gigantea Fact Sheet and read the information there and look at the messages attached at the bottom of the page. Quite a few of them report and discuss them washing up on Western Australian beaches.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Swimming Sea Hare from Western Australia
From: Stephen Clifford, May 5, 2010 -
Giant Brown Sea Hares at Fremantle, Western Australia
From: Joanna Robertson, March 3, 2010 -
Sea hares at Perth, W. Australia.
From: John Gorter, February 18, 2010 -
Re: Big Sea slug from Western Australia
From: Dawn Skinner, March 11, 2009 -
Poisonous Sea Hares in Western Australia
From: Helen Oates, February 23, 2009 -
Sea Hare poisoning in Western Australia
From: Dr Tony Pusey, March 11, 2005 -
Poisonous Sea Hares
From: Sue Lennard , March 27, 2003 -
Wilbur recovers from Sea Hare poisoning
From: Sandra & Andy Rose, March 19, 2003 -
Sea Hare - toxic to dogs
From: Sandra & Andy Rose , March 18, 2003 -
Sea hares in Western Australia
From: Joyce Mort., March 17, 2003 -
Dog-poisoning Sea Hares make the news
From: Bill Rudman, February 27, 2003 -
Re: Dog-poisoning Sea Hares
From: Gwyneth Ingham, February 26, 2003 -
Re: Giant Sea Hares poisoning dogs
From: Sharon Wood, February 24, 2003 -
Re: Giant Sea Hare poisoning dogs!
From: Sharon Wood, February 21, 2003 -
Re: Dogs and Sea Hares
From: Kim Trotter, February 21, 2003 -
Sea Hares killing dogs in Western Australia
From: Kim Trotter, February 20, 2003 -
Mystery brown-black slug from West Australia
From: Julie Robertson, January 31, 2003 -
Sea Hare? swimming
From: Jessica Vivien , January 18, 2003 -
Aplysia from West Australia
From: Masoud Abadi, December 31, 2002 -
Aplysia neurotoxins
From: Cary Rogers , March 27, 2002 -
Re: Sea Hare poisoning
From: Cary Rogers , March 10, 2002 -
Re: Sea Hare poisoning
From: Cary Rogers, March 8, 2002 -
School- based sea hare research
From: Amy Dohnt, March 6, 2002 -
Giant Sea Hare poisoning dogs!
From: Peter Taylor, March 6, 2002