Sea Hare from the Pacific coast of Panama

February 8, 2005
From: Rebecca Rissanen


Hello!
This little fellow lives in the intertidal ponds of Punta Culebra, located on Naos island right by the Panama Canal entrance, in Panama. We've been having a little debate on his identity, and would greatly appreciate it if you could give us some insight, people here call them nudibranchs, but to me its a Sea Hare...

Locality: Punta Culebra, Naos. Panama, Rep. of Panama, Pacific coast. Depth: Tidepool, maximum 20 cm deep. Length: About 10 to 13 cm. 03 February 2005. Rocky intertidal zone, tidepools. Photographer: Rebecca Rissanen

Might be a silly question, but being accustomed to studying crabs, the knowledge on slugs is a bit limited for time being.
Thank you for a great site, by the way.

Rebecca

jaderr79@yahoo.com

Rissanen, J.R., 2005 (Feb 8) Sea Hare from the Pacific coast of Panama. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13084

Dear Rebecca,
Some people use the word nudibranch to mean all sea slugs, but the nudibranchs are just one group of Sea Slugs. Your animal is indeed a Sea Hare, which are also sea slugs, but quite a different group. It is Dolabrifera dolabrifera which has a world-wide distribution in tropical and subtropical waters. If you have a look at some of the other messages on this species [listed below] you will see it is quite variable in colour. It is possible that the colour changes are associated with the colour of the algae they are eating but it needs to be studied.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Feb 8). Comment on Sea Hare from the Pacific coast of Panama by Rebecca Rissanen. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13084

Factsheet

Dolabrifera dolabrifera

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