How many eggs can a sea hare lay

June 1, 1998
From: Kathy Potter

Hi,
I hope you don't mind this intrusion, but you seem to be someone who could help me. I play an online trivia game and can't find the answer to this question. If you can help me, I'd sure appreciate it. There is fierce competition going on... gee I hope others haven't already found you.

Thanks in advance if you can help, and BTW, I need the answer today!

1. How many eggs can a Pacific Coast sea hare lay in one string mass?
a.) 245,000
b.) 16 million
c.) 86 million
d.) 2.13 billion

Kathy
California, USA

Potterkat1@aol.com

Potter, K., 1998 (Jun 1) How many eggs can a sea hare lay . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/147

Since aplysiid eggmasses are so large most researchers don't actually count individual eggs, they weigh egg masses or measure eggs per capsule etc. to get some idea of total egg production. Egg production, like anyone who has kept hens knows, depends on the health and fitness of the egg-layer. None of this helps you answer a trivia question so on the belief that trivia question makers wouldn't be searching the scientific literature very deeply I had a look at MacFarland's monograph on Californian opisthobranchs and found one reference to Aplysia californica in which the number of eggs in one mass was estimated to be 86 million. Another specimen kept in an aquarium for 5 months laid approximately 478 million eggs.

So I guess 86 million is your answer.

Let us know whether you win
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 1998 (Jun 1). Comment on How many eggs can a sea hare lay by Kathy Potter. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/147

Factsheet

What are Sea Hares?

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