Re: Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Spain

March 4, 2006
From: Adrienne Zedella

Concerning message #8449:

We saw this creature swimming and coming up for air off the coast of Florida in April 2005. we didn't want to touch it (didn't know what it was or if it was poisonous). It was taking loud breaths and we assumed it was in distress, but we didn't know what to do about it, not having a net. it was fascinating and i am further intrigued wondering what it was doing in a foreign area. it was also very close to shore in about 2 feet of water, then swam along the shore further north out of our view. we do not know what became of it but was a valuable experience for myself and my 2 youngboys.

Locality: Singer island , 1 1/2 ft - 2 ft water, Florida, USA, Atlantic coast, April 2005, close to shore. Length: about 12 - 15" head to tail (?).

Adrienne Zedella

chichijunk@cs.com

Zedella, A., 2006 (Mar 4) Re: Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Spain. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16001

Dear Adrienne,
The animal you saw was almost certainly a sea hare, most probably Aplysia brasiliana. If you look at the Fact Sheet for that species you will find quite a few earlier messages reporting it from Florida. It's interesting you should think the Spanish animal was the same as yours, as there is some pretty convincing evidence to show that one of the large swimming sea hares on the European side of the Atlantic, Aplysia fasciata, is the same as the common American species A. brasiliana [see message #12545].

If you look up Sea Hares on the General Topics list [top left of this page] you will find a lot of pages with background information on these animals.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Mar 4). Comment on Re: Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Spain by Adrienne Zedella. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16001

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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