Sea snail or slug? from Florida

May 22, 2002
From: Mary Bigari

Hello,
i am new at this salt water thing and i was recently cleaning out the sea strainers on the boat and i found many interesting and weird animals in there but the one that caught my eye was about the size of a quarter. one of the guys i know told me it was a sea snail but i think it is a sea slug and i think it got bigger. i live in fort pierce florida and we often travel to miami and ft. lauderdale. this "slug" or whatever it was was the size of a quarter when closed but then when it swam it opened up and it had "wings" it was a brownish color and when i put it in a cup a few minutes later its slime on the side of the cup turned purple. i let it go in the waters here and a few weeks later i saw the same thing except a lot bigger. about the size of a saucer. if you could be any help id appreciate it. i dont think they bite or are toxic but id like to know for sure and any other info you may have. thank you for your time.

Mary Bigari,
United States Coast Guard

mbigari@yahoo.com

Bigari, M., 2002 (May 22) Sea snail or slug? from Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7006

Dear Mary,
Your mystery animal is a Sea Hare and the species you found is almost certainly Aplysia brasiliana. If you have a look at those two pages, click on anything underlined, and look at attached earlier messages you will find a wealth of information on these animals.

Is it a snail or a slug"? Have a look at Dana Farnsworth's recent message where I discuss that very question. Producing purple ink purple ink is a characteristic of most aplysiids. We don't know its function.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2002 (May 22). Comment on Sea snail or slug? from Florida by Mary Bigari. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7006

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

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