Photos of Florida Sea Hares

March 9, 2001
From: Anne DuPont

Dear Bill,
Since there have been several letters regarding Sea Hares from Pompano Beach, Florida, I wanted to see them, so I walked the beach several days but did not see them. They are, however, now in the canals and I found this one under a dock at a friend's house in Pompano Beach.

I put it in a white bucket and photographed it, and also had a friend photograph it in my hand. It did NOT ink me at all. It was swimming with it's head out of the water a lot. Can you identify it for me from these photos?

Thank you for all the work you do on the forum.
Best Regards,
Anne DuPont
Delray Beach, Fl. USA

adupont@gate.net

DuPont, A., 2001 (Mar 9) Photos of Florida Sea Hares . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3944

Dear Anne,
Thanks for the photos. From my understanding of the Aplysia species in your area [ which is not great] the two common species are Aplysia dactylomela and A. brasiliana which ranges in colour from dark brown, as in your photos, to light mottled brown, as in the earlier photos you sent, some of which are at the top of the page.

If you have a look at Betsy's earlier message you will see a photo of a very similarly coloured swimming animal.

Unfortunately Sea Hares are not a good size for photography - usually just too big for a macro lens, and definitely too large for most photographic trays or dishes. I must say I have ended up using buckets in the past. Thanks for going to the trouble of taking these photos,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Note added March 9, 2001: This is A. morio not A. brasiliana. See message. A. morio is an uniform dark brown or black while A. brasiliana has a mottled colour pattern of dark and light brown.

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Mar 9). Comment on Photos of Florida Sea Hares by Anne DuPont. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3944

Factsheet

Aplysia morio

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