Aplysia cervina
(Dall & Stimpson, 1901)

Order: ANASPIDEA
Superfamily: APLYSIOIDEA
Family: Aplysiidae

DISTRIBUTION

West Atlantic, from southern USA to Brazil.

PHOTO

Locality: Estuary, Ceará State, Northeast Brazil, Atlantic Ocean, 25 January 2007, sand bank during the low tide. Length: 60 mm.  Lower photo showing colour pattern on parapodia. Photographer: Carlos Meirelles.

Note added 9 Feb 2007: see message #19409 showing this is a colour form of Aplysia brasiliana. _______________

Animal is a dull, translucent yellowish green with a reticulate pattern of thin black lines. Scattered  over the body and parapodia are a variable number of relatively large roundish black spots [10-60 on each side], and many smaller whitish spots, which appear to be glandular. The parapodia are joined very low posteriorly, and the rhinophores are relatively large with a split almost to their base.

This species is either relatively rare, or lives in a rarely visited ecosystem, because the few confirmed reports of this species are based on a single specimen or very few individuals. 

  • Dall, W. H. & Simpson, C. T. (1901) The Mollusca of Porto Rico U. S. Fisheries Commission Bulletin, 20: 351-524, pls. 53-58.
  • 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, E. and Marcus, E. (1957) Notes on Aplysia. Boletim do Instituto Oceanografico, 8: 3-22.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2007 (January 30) Aplysia cervina (Dall & Stimpson, 1901). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/aplycerv