Aplysia dactylomela from Montego Bay, Jamaica
November 13, 2009
From: Semra Halabi
Hi i wonder if anyone could help us.
We have just got back from our holiday in Jamaica, One lovely morning while taking my baby down on the beach we came across the 2 things thinking they were jelly fish. I scooped them up in my babies bucket so my baby wouldn't get stung (they looked dead ) so i threw them back into the sea 10 minutes later they were back again so i scooped them back up and took them to my husband to show him what we found so he could go deeper near to the corals to release them later, my husband told me when he released them they grew double there size and looked like they had wings.
Locality: Montego bay, on the beach, Jamaica, 22 october 2009, clear water. Length: 1 - 2 inches. Photographer: Semra Halabi
Could any one tells us what they are and were they dangerous.
Thanks
Semra
semrahalabi@hotmail.com
Halabi, S., 2009 (Nov 13) Aplysia dactylomela from Montego Bay, Jamaica. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/22774Dear Semra,
Your animal is a Sea Hare. Use the menu list on the top left of the page to have a look at the General Topics for a list of links to information on this group of sea slugs. You will see that Sea Hares ofte have wing-like flaps on the side of their bodies which in some species are used for swimming. Your species is Aplysia dactylomela, which has large black rings on its skin. These balck rings are particularly noticeable in Caribbean animals.
Sea Hares do not sting or bite, and so are essentially harmless. There is one large species in Western Australia, A. gigantea, which sometimes washes up on beaches. We don't know why, but dogs who bite these washed up sea hares can sometimes be badly poisoned, apparently by something in the slug's skin. However I know of no other reports around the world of a Sea Hare being blamed for anything untoward.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
Related messages
-
Aplysia dactylomela from Canary Islands
From: Claudia Stoll, March 3, 2010 -
Aplysia dactylomela from sthn Queensland
From: Gary Cobb, February 3, 2009 -
Aplysia dactylomela? from South Africa
From: Daleen Loest, October 27, 2008 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela from Canary Ids
From: Obdulia Cabrera Hernández, October 21, 2008 -
Aplysia dactylomela egg masses from the Mediterranean
From: Antonello Greco, August 12, 2008 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela and its egg-mass
From: Vinicius Padula, July 10, 2008 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela and its egg-mass
From: Fabio Crocetta, July 10, 2008 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela and its egg-mass
From: Fabio Crocetta, July 9, 2008 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Rhodes, Greece
From: Adam Gill, July 1, 2008 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Islands
From: Stanley Ramsell, March 6, 2008 -
Re: Sea hare from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
From: Gary Cobb, October 10, 2007 -
Sea hare from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
From: Aimee Richer, October 9, 2007 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Islands
From: Mikkel Andersen, September 28, 2007 -
Aplysia brasiliana in eastern Mediterranean?
From: Gilbert Jaux, August 27, 2007 -
Re: Feeding studies on Aplysia in Malaysia
From: Corvin Eidens, July 20, 2007 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Sabah, Malaysia
From: Richard Swann, June 19, 2007 -
Big sea hares on Mexican beach
From: Benjamin Fisher, April 2, 2007 -
Re: Feeding preference of Aplysia dactylomela
From: Baki Yokes, November 27, 2006 -
Re: Feeding preference of Aplysia dactylomela
From: Philibert Bidgrain, November 20, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela - eggs and larvae
From: Jacob, Tim & Mai, November 6, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Croatia
From: Tom Turk, August 28, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Islands
From: Christian Kowalewski, August 21, 2006 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela in Eastern Sicily
From: Andrea Corso, August 18, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela in Eastern Sicily
From: Agatino Reitano, August 7, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela in Sicily
From: Antonello Greco, August 7, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela in Crete, Greece
From: Stig & Sus Andersson, August 4, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Islands
From: Paul Harwood, June 15, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Florida
From: Rose Ann Maly, April 13, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Greece
From: Maria Salomidi, February 27, 2006 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Cyprus
From: Samantha Cooke, October 17, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela - keeping in aquarium
From: Jack Brown, September 16, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela 'infant' from Bahamas
From: Anne DuPont, August 27, 2005 -
Another record of Aplysia dactylomela from Greece
From: Allan David, August 11, 2005 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela in the Eastern Mediterranean
From: Christopher Sweeting, August 1, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela in the Eastern Mediterranean
From: Baki Yokes, July 21, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Greece
From: Lucyna Sterniuk-Gronek, July 20, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Florida
From: Erik Sanders, May 7, 2005 -
Sea Hares in Tenerife, Canary Ids
From: Steve Andrews, April 15, 2005 -
Aplysia dactylomela from St. Martin, West Indies
From: Danny Dawson, March 18, 2005 -
Sea Hares from Netherlands Antilles
From: Bob Murphy , March 17, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Canary Ids
From: Tom + Jade, March 16, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela and its egg-mass
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, March 10, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Bahamas
From: David Behr, March 1, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Western Australia
From: Monika Stambergova, February 11, 2004 -
Feeding of Aplysia dactylomela
From: Albert Diaz Garcia, January 26, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Dominica
From: Valérie Grando, January 6, 2004 -
Aplysia dactylomela(?) from Brazil
From: Vinicius Anderson, November 18, 2003 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Jamaica
From: Ross W. Gundersen, October 6, 2003 -
Re: Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Ids
From: Ron Warne, July 2, 2003 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Senegal
From: Marina Poddubetskaia, June 24, 2003 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Ids
From: Sjoerd Westerterp, June 13, 2003 -
Information on Aplysia diet
From: Ana Karina Yepes, February 6, 2003 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Lord Howe Island
From: W.B. Rudman, January 18, 2003 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Equatorial Guinea
From: Felix Villares, October 14, 2002 -
'Mango Seeds' = Aplysia dactylomela
From: Dr. Ray McAllister, June 13, 2002 -
Spanish Dancer congregation in Florida
From: Dr. Ray McAllister, June 7, 2002 -
Aplysia dactylomela feeding
From: Anne DuPont, June 3, 2002 -
Aplysia dactylomela in the Bahamas
From: Anne DuPont, May 27, 2002 -
Colour variation in Aplysia dactylomela
From: Anne DuPont, April 21, 2002 -
Sea Hare from Puerto Rico
From: Natalie Manno, April 15, 2002 -
Seahares in New Zealand
From: Leanne Ticehurst, March 6, 2002 -
Aplysia dactylomela from the Canary Ids
From: Simon and Jill Warwick, December 5, 2001 -
Feeding preference of Aplysia dactylomela
From: Patricia Chen, October 26, 2001 -
Black Sea Hare and mystery from Curacao
From: John Dohmen, June 20, 2001 -
Re: Sea Hare from Thailand
From: Kathe R. Jensen, May 10, 2001 -
Sea Hare from Thailand
From: Walabha Sinbul, May 4, 2001 -
Re: Aplysia from South Africa
From: Richard Willan, January 17, 2001 -
More photos of possible Aplysia oculifera
From: Valda Fraser, January 14, 2001 -
Aplysia oculifera? from South Africa
From: Valda Fraser, January 10, 2001 -
Aplysia dactylomela swimming
From: Anne Dupont, December 11, 1999 -
Aplysia dactylomela from Florida
From: Anne Dupont, October 15, 1999 -
Sea Hares - Mass mortality in Florida
From: Annie Troutman, June 4, 1999 -
Aplysia dactylomela? from Bahamas
From: Troy Bartlett, April 19, 1999