Sea Hare? swimming in Florida

April 27, 1999
From: Esat Atikkan

Sighted during night dive:
in ~ 70ft
West Palm Beach, FL

A. californica-like organism

Uniformly light-medium brown, swimming, sizes 10-20 cm. No markings. Encountered in 'swarms'; 100's of them swimming few cm to 10's of cm above the reef & reef bubble

Swims using mantles, in between of which is a bulbous structure.

Any help in ID will be appreciated

Esat Atikkan

atikkan@juno.com

Atikkan, E., 1999 (Apr 27) Sea Hare? swimming in Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/816

Dear Esat,
It certainly sounds like a Sea Hare. Perhaps its Aplysia brasiliana which occurs in Florida.

A number of species of Aplysia can swim by flapping or undulating their large parapodia. Species I know about include:
Aplysia brasiliana (West Atlantic)
Aplysia depilans (East Atlantic)
Aplysia fasciata (East Atlantic)
Aplysia extraordinaria (east Australia)

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Apr 27). Comment on Sea Hare? swimming in Florida by Esat Atikkan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/816

Factsheet

Aplysia brasiliana

Related messages

  1. Re: More swimming Sea Hares in Florida
    From: Michele Harrison, May 3, 2010
  2. More swimming Sea Hares in Florida
    From: Carol Geisen, April 22, 2010
  3. Re: Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Kelsey Workinger, April 12, 2010
  4. Re: Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Karen Geck, April 12, 2010
  5. Re: Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Kevin Parker, April 7, 2010
  6. Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Betsy Geis, April 6, 2010
  7. Gills of Aplysia brasiliana?
    From: Linda Ianniello, March 5, 2009
  8. Re: Aplysia brasiliana and swimming
    From: Villand Bergerhoff, February 9, 2009
  9. Re: Sea Hares on South Padre Island, Texas
    From: Frances Noe, July 25, 2008
  10. Sea Hare in Wilmington, North Carolina
    From: Holly Cunningham, July 1, 2008
  11. Re: Spanish Dancer (?) congregation in Florida
    From: Brian Jackson, December 6, 2007
  12. Re: Spanish Dancer (?) congregation in Florida
    From: Brian Jackson, November 28, 2007
  13. Re: Aplysia extraordinaria from nthn New Zealand
    From: Jackie Coles, June 16, 2007
  14. Re: Aplysia brasiliana & A. cervina
    From: Vinicius Padula, February 23, 2007
  15. Aplysia brasiliana & A. cervina
    From: Carlos Meirelles, February 9, 2007
  16. Re: Aplysia cervina from Brazil
    From: Carlos Meirelles, February 1, 2007
  17. Aplysia cervina from Brazil
    From: Carlos Meirelles, January 31, 2007
  18. Aplysia willcoxi - a junior synonym of A. brasiliana?
    From: Anthony Fernando, December 22, 2006
  19. Items from inside Aplysia brasiliana
    From: Jo O'Keefe, June 28, 2006
  20. Sea Hare from southern North Carolina
    From: Jo O'Keefe, June 28, 2006
  21. Re: Pink Sea Hare from Florida
    From: Heather Clark, June 23, 2006
  22. Sea Hare from Charleston, S. Carolina
    From: Hannah Nelson-Horne., June 23, 2006
  23. Pink Sea Hare from Florida
    From: Heather Clark, June 21, 2006
  24. Sea Hare from Sth Carolina, USA
    From: Natalie Barbare, June 16, 2006
  25. Sea Hare from South Carolina
    From: Kassandra Humphrey, June 8, 2006
  26. Sea Hares on South Padre Island, Texas
    From: Ulli Schoenknecht, May 26, 2006
  27. Re: Sea hare in Alabama
    From: Keith Ammons, May 10, 2006
  28. Sea hare in Alabama
    From: Keith Ammons, May 8, 2006
  29. Re: Aplysia brasiliana and burrowing
    From: Gustav Paulay, April 13, 2006
  30. Sea Slug in the Intercoastal, Texas
    From: Amy Peterson, March 28, 2006
  31. Research reveals identity of alien creature
    From: Juliet Jimenez, March 13, 2006
  32. Need help identifying this alien creature!
    From: Juliet Jimenez, March 13, 2006
  33. Re: Swimming Aplysia fasciata from Spain
    From: Adrienne Zedella, March 4, 2006
  34. Re: Burrowing Sea Hares
    From: Joey Lau, August 19, 2005
  35. Sea Slug in Pompano Beach, Florida
    From: Sandy Kerr, March 4, 2005
  36. Sea Hare? from Florida
    From: Millicent Parker, February 15, 2005
  37. Nudibranch from Galveston Bay , Texas
    From: Damian Menning, February 11, 2005
  38. Aplysia brasiliana swimming
    From: Richard Shanahan, March 17, 2004
  39. Swimming Sea Hare in Florida
    From: Richard Shanahan, March 16, 2004
  40. Swimming Sea Hare from Florida
    From: Allen Peterson, January 22, 2004
  41. Aplysia brasiliana from Texas, Gulf of Mexico
    From: Eric Carpenter, July 18, 2003
  42. Aplysia from Florida
    From: Hollie Greer, May 29, 2003
  43. Baby Aplysia brasiliana swimming
    From: Anne DuPont , April 18, 2003
  44. Sea Hare - Ft Myers Beach, Florida
    From: Cindy Volk, February 25, 2003
  45. Sea hares everywhere, Coastal Alabama
    From: Becky Roland, September 4, 2002
  46. Hundreds of slugs in Florida
    From: Trevin Bernarding, June 20, 2002
  47. Thanks for info
    From: Bruce de Haas, June 17, 2002
  48. Swimming slug photos from W. Africa
    From: Bruce de Haas, June 1, 2002
  49. Sea snail or slug? from Florida
    From: Mary Bigari, May 22, 2002
  50. Sea Hare Question
    From: Dana Keith Farnsworth, May 15, 2002
  51. Black swimming slug
    From: Bruce de Haas, April 30, 2002
  52. Re: Aplysia - Mass mortality in Florida
    From: Daren Hoffman, January 9, 2002
  53. Does Aplysia brasiliana have a mating season?
    From: Ray, June 28, 2001
  54. Swimming slugs from North Carolina
    From: Rhenee Helms, June 26, 2001
  55. Doubts about Aplysia brasiliana
    From: Luis Ernesto Arruda, June 5, 2001
  56. Re: Burrowing Sea Hares
    From: Toni Yeomans, April 23, 2001
  57. Burrowing Sea Hares
    From: Bill Rudman, April 22, 2001
  58. Sea Slug from the west coast of Florida
    From: Nancy Kielich, April 16, 2001
  59. Re: Swimming slug in Florida
    From: Rob Porter, March 30, 2001
  60. Swimming slug? in Florida
    From: Rob Porter, March 25, 2001
  61. Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Debby, March 21, 2001
  62. Re: Aplysia brasiliana from Florida
    From: Mike Schmale, March 21, 2001
  63. Aplysia brasiliana and burrowing
    From: Melanie , March 13, 2001
  64. Re: Daughter needs info ....
    From: Grace Brookshire, February 16, 2001
  65. Please help......daughter needs info
    From: Grace Brookshire, February 15, 2001
  66. Re: Was it a sea slug?
    From: Roy Harrell, August 21, 2000
  67. Was it a sea slug?
    From: Roy Harrell, August 20, 2000
  68. Florida Sea Slugs
    From: Sharon, May 3, 2000
  69. Aplysia brasiliana from Brazil
    From: Carlo Magenta, December 17, 1999
  70. Re: Aplysia brasiliana mass mortality
    From: Mike Schmale, November 16, 1999
  71. Identity of Aplysia brasiliana
    From: Paul Hamilton, November 2, 1999
  72. Aplysia brasiliana & swimming
    From: Bill Rudman, October 15, 1999
  73. Re: Aplysia - Mass mortality
    From: Anne Dupont, October 15, 1999
  74. Aplysia brasiliana and swimming
    From: Bill Rudman, September 9, 1999
  75. Sea Hare West Palm Beach Florida
    From: Kathy Dougherty, May 13, 1999
  76. Brown-winged sea slug from Florida
    From: SB, May 12, 1999
  77. Re: Sea Hare? swimming in Florida
    From: Esat Atikkan, May 4, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages