Sea hare from Isla Marada, Florida

April 8, 2010
From: W. Robert Hudgins

From a dock on the Atlantic side of Isla Marada Key, Florida, I observed a sea Hare that was 35 cm long and brown-shoe brown. It had bright round orange spots surrounded by a black border that gave a bull's-eye effect. It lengthened and shortened and at full extension, it may have been more than 35 cm. When its "ears" were extended the "hare" appearance was dramatic. From my perspective the gills were small and not well defined. Water depth was about 45 cm and very calm. It crawled over brown algae masses about 20cm tall, moving about 40 m in 24 hr.

Locality: Isla Marada, 0.5m, Florida, USA, Sand behind reef, March 2010, Sand/carbonate-mud. Length: 35 cm

W. Robert Hudgins

hudginswr@msn.com

Hudgins, W.R., 2010 (Apr 8) Sea hare from Isla Marada, Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23433

Dear Bob,

Form your description of 'eye spots' my first thought is the sea hare, Stylocheilus striatus [see message #16120 about an animal from Brazil with blue spots and orange spots], but at 35 cm, your animal is much larger than any Stylocheilus I have seen. The two common sea hares in yoru part of the world are Aplysia morio and A. brasiliana but I don't know of any record of them having eye spots. If you animal was 35 mm it would fit in the Stylocheilus range?

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Apr 8). Comment on Sea hare from Isla Marada, Florida by W. Robert Hudgins. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23433

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