Swimming slug? in Florida

March 25, 2001
From: Rob Porter

I observed what I thought was a nudibranch in a lagoon of the Gulf of Mexico/Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida (Ft Desoto Park) on March 10th. It appeared to have wings that it undulated and moved through the water (not on the bottom) above a sandy turtle grass flat in about two feet of water. The sighting was well after dark (9:30 pm), on an incoming tide. It seemed to be trying to eat or bite everything it came in contact with at the surface of the water, including our fly fishing line.

The next morning we found one (possibly the same one) washed up on the island about 20 yards from where we had seen it the night before. Upon returning it to the water it exuded a great deal purple ink. The animal had a rusty speckled appearance out of the water.

Just curious if it was a nudibranch, and if so, what kind. Also, how rare is this creature? I have been visiting this area since I was child and have only seen nudibranch on the bottom (1000's of them, with spike-like appendages, possibly mating--not sure what they are either), but never anything like this. Thanks for any info you can provided. Neat web-site!
Rob Porter

fishmystic@hotmail.com

Porter, R., 2001 (Mar 25) Swimming slug? in Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4035

Dear Rob,
You animal was/is a Sea Hare, which are sea slugs, but not nudibranchs. The purple ink is very characteristic. Have a look at the Sea Hares Page for some general information on these animals. There are a couple of swimming species found in Florida, Aplysia brasiliana and Aplysia morio, and if you look at the recent messages on both those pages you will find they have been appearing and dying in large swarms, in Florida in the last couple of months. From your description I would suspect your animal was Aplysia brasiliana. These animal are herbivores, feeding on seaweeds. I suspect the impression you got that it was trying to eat everything was caused by the way they thresh around in a fairly uncontrolled way when they are swimming.

The spiky animal you often see in thousands, is almost certainly another Sea Hare, Bursatella leachi. Have a look at the photos on that page and in some of the attached messages, to check it out.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Mar 25). Comment on Swimming slug? in Florida by Rob Porter. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/4035

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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