Dear Ron,
Have you other photos of this animal, perhaps at a higher resolution and also from different angles? I can't really get a good idea of either the colour pattern or the shape of this species from this photo. It's not a Dolabella  but the exhalent siphon seems a long way back and the parapodia seem quite small

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear John,
From your description you have found a Sea Hare.  If you go to the General Topics index [top left of each page] you will see there is a special entry for Sea Hares which will take you to relevant Fact Sheets including one on their head, which will show you what their 'ears' actually do, and one on their ink glands. I suspect you animal would have been Aplysia extraordinaria or A. sydneyensis, but there are quite a few other species it could have been.

Sea Hares are not normally considered dangerous, and the ink is not known to be poisonous, but there is one large species in Western Australia - Aplysia gigantea - which often washes up on the beaches in large numbers. Dogs that investigate - and lick - the stranded slugs can quickly become very sick and die. But Sussex Inlet is a long way from Western Australia, and Sea Hares have never been known to cause this problem anywhere else in the world.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Tess,
If your slugs started to produce ink then they were a group of slugs we call Sea Hares. If you go to the General Topics Index you will see a list of Fact Sheets on these animals including one on their inking behaviour and one on their mating behaviour. All sea slugs are hermaphrodite, which means they are fully functional males and females.

Sea Hares are not usually considered poisonous, although it is probably not good to eat them. There is a large species in Western Australia however that has been known to kill dogs. Have a look at the messages listed under the Fact Sheet on Aplysia gigantea for reports of dog poisoning.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Joe,
One problem with nudirbanchs in aquaria is that sometimes their curiosity is not in their best interests. Fortunately they can survive quite a bit of damage, and because they lack a skeleton, they are in many ways just a flexible sac. This means they can be quite amazingly distorted when sucked up a tube, but if they can be carefully removed- as you have done - there is often no permanent damage.

Concerning how hardy they are - it is a couple of days since you sent this message so if the sea hare is still alive I would say it has survived the episode. It would be good if you could isolate the intake though, as there is no guarantee the sea hare will have learnt the lesson.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Valerie,
This is, or was, a Sea Hare. Have a look at the Fact Sheet for links to further information on the Forum. I'm afraid it's not possible to identify what species it is.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Dominic,
I dont normally answer aquarium problems as I don't want to start an avalanche of questions on what does it eat etc but ... You don't say how deep the sand in your aquarium is. I suspect its burrowed into the sand somewhere
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Tom,
If you need your species identified just send a photo
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Tom,
There has been some work on the possible antibiotic activity of aplysiid egg masses, but most secondary metabolites isolated from sea hares are from their algal food, and do seem to have attracted the interest of pharmaceutical companies. This can be compared with the huge interest in sponges, soft corals, and the nudibranchs that eat them, which harbour a vast array of molecules which 'do things' to various metabolic pathways in humans.

There is a large Aplysia culturng facility in Florida  - the NIH-Aplysia Resource Facility in Miami [see message #360]. Most of their output is sold for research into brain and nerve research centres. The researchers prefer to stick to one laboratory bred species, Aplysia californica, so they have a standard animal.

You don't mention what species you have but I ssupect it may be Bursatella leachii which seems to be a common inhabitant of aquaculture ponds in tropical Australia. Perhaps someone has better information or can suggest another contact, but my first thought would be to look up the NIH-Aplysia Resource Facility website
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear John,
My first question would be are you sure it is fresh water? Your description sounds very much like a Sea Hare, such as Aplysia californica. If the canal has a connection to the sea, and the water is salty, then this would be a place some sea hares would be pleased to call home. On the other hand, if it is definitely fresh water, it won't be a slug, because apart from a few rare microscopic species, sea slugs aren't found in fresh water
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Aaran,
I don't know much about Virginia, but I have heard of Chesapeake Bay, which I suspect is home to plenty of Sea Hares. Failing that, there is the large Aplysia facility in Miami which breeds Aplysia californica for sale. [for details see my earlier reply].
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Angie,
The best photo I have showing the mantle cavity and siphon of a Sea Hare is this one of Siphonota geographica which is closely related to the genus Aplysia. The siphon, sometimes called the anal siphon, exhalent siphon or pallial siphon, is a tube formed from a fold in the posterior edge of the mantle, which directs the exhalent water current out of the mantle cavity. In this photo, the round bit in front of the siphon is the mantle which encloses the flattened shell which partially covers the gill. The anus is at the base of the siphon and so faecal matter is washed out with the exhalent current. Usually the parapodia are folded over the body to enclose the mantle region. When the parapodia are folded over, there is an anterior gap through which water enters the parapodial chamber and is drawn down over the gill.

I hope that makes sense. If you would like to contribute your presentation on neurobiology work that has been done on Aplysia to the Forum, it would make a welcome addition.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Kathy,
Have a look at the Sea Hares Page for general information on these animals. There are two common species in Florida, Aplysia morio (the dark brown one) and Aplysia brasiliana (the lighter, brown-spotted one). Have a look at the messages on those pages for more information and photo. In Florida.

For information on feeding have a look at my answer to Bill Ballard's recent message. Basically, they are quite easy to keep in aquaria. They are herbivorous and althought they prefer particular species of red and brown algae in the wild, these can exude nasty chemicals in the confines of an aquarium, so are better fed green algae, like the Sea Lettuce, Ulva or even slightly boiled leaves of proper lettuce.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Jeanne,
Your grandson caught a Sea Hare, which are well known for squirting out red or purple ink when disturbed. Have a look at the Sea Hare page for some more information. There are two species found commonly in California Aplysia californica and Aplysia vaccaria.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Stephen,
I am not aware of any 'reconstructions' of ancestral Sea Hares, which I guess is what you are asking about. The earliest Aplysia, by definition, would have the characters we consider are common to the genus today, such as body shape, parapodial flaps, reduced partially internal shell etc. If we want some clues about an ancestral sea hare we can find some of them in Akera, which has an external shell. Most features of its external anatomy though, gizzard plates, purple gland and reproductive system are very similar to species of Aplysia.

We have to be careful in thinking of Akera as being 'ancestral.' Since it is alive today it is as old or as modern as any other Sea Hare. What we can say is that its external shell is almost certainly a character it has retained from a common ancestor. In other Sea Hares the shell has become a flattened, partially internal plate, usually - but not always- very poorly calcified
best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Bill,
I guess what you found was a Sea Hare. Have a look at the Sea Hare page for some general information and links to further information. There is in fact a lot of information on these non-colourful slugs on the Forum. Have a look at my answer to Luiza's message inquiring about feeding Aplysia californica. Basically all Sea Hares are herbivorous. Sea Lettuce (Ulva) is a good thing to feed then in captivity, although ordinary lettuce -slightly boiled - has been used with good effect.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Nathan,
Most Sea Hares belong in the genus Aplysia. The last major revision of the genus Aplysia (Eales, 1960) recognised 35 species of Aplysia but at least 200 names have been given to Sea Hares worldwide. However, we have no idea how many of those names are superfluous. I am afraid many species have been described from preserved animals, often based on one or two specimens, so the validity of many names is questionable, especially when it seems that many species have a worldwide distribution. Go to the List of Species to see what species of Sea Hare are discussed on the Forum. There are about 25 species on the list and I suspect that once the aplysiids have been better studied, there may only be 10 or so extra species to add to the list. In brief, I suspect the number of species of Sea Hares worldwide would be nearer to 50 than 100.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Warren,
Your slug is a Sea Hare. If you go to the Sea Hare Page you will find links to various pages on the Forum with information on these animals, incluidng one to a photo of a Sea Hare producing its characteristic ink.

Three species of Aplysia are reported from the British Isles all of which could fit your description - Aplysia fasciata, Aplysia depilans and Aplysia punctata, but my understanding is that A. punctata is the only one that is common.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Dear Jay,
Sea Hares [Aplysia spp] have proved particularly useful in brain research because they have a relatively simple, uncomplicated nervous system which is easy to access in the living animals with just minor dissection. Another reason they are so useful is that, as in many primitive sea slugs, the individual nerve cells are very large and brightly coloured. The 'brain' is also split up into 11 parts (ganglia) which are separated from each other by nerve cords. This means that individual cells can be mapped, and their functions isolated. All this make them particularly useful for brain research. In the 1970s Dr Eric Kandel began studying the nervous system of Aplysia as a way to understanding more complex brains. For his pioneering work he was recently honoured with a Nobel Prize.

Have a look at The Aplysia Hometank at http://ganglion.med.cornell.edu/

If you want further background information have a look at Kandel's two books which are important resources both for physiologists and biologists:
• Kandel,ER (1979): Behavioural Biology of Aplysia. San Francisco, W.H.Freeman & Co. 463pp.
• Kandel,ER (1976): Cellular Basis of Behaviour. An introduction to behavioural neurobiology. W.H.Freeman & Co., San Francisco. 727 pages.

Another site on studies on mollusc brains and behaviour is Rhanor Gillette's site Slug City, Molluscs, Brain & Behaviour which is under development at http://www.life.uiuc.edu/r-gillette/.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Danny,
Sea Hares are all herbivores feeding on certain species of algae. They manly feed on red or green algae and some seem to be quite specific while others can move from red to green species at different times of their life cycle. There are a few exceptions like Bursatella leachi which feeds on a cyanobacterial layer which often forms a 'skin' over the mud in sheltered waters. For more specific information have a look at the page where I have listed major feeding references.
best wishes,
Bill Rudman

There was a good site called Brainsurf, which was based on work done in learning and memory in the lab of Dr. Edgar T. Walters at UT Medical School, Houston, Texas. Unfortunately it has been replaced by a boring summary of Dr Walter's research interests. It looks like the bureaucrats won.
Go to the general faculty page .

Another site is The Aplysia Hometank at http://ganglion.med.cornell.edu/

You should be familiar with Kandel's two books which are important resources both for physiologists and biologists:
• Kandel,ER (1979): Behavioural Biology of Aplysia. San Francisco, W.H.Freeman & Co. 463pp.
• Kandel,ER (1976): Cellular Basis of Behaviour. An introduction to behavioural neurobiology. W.H.Freeman & Co., San Francisco. 727 pages.

Another site on studies on mollusc brains and behaviour is Rhanor Gillette's site Slug City, Molluscs, Brain & Behaviour which is under development at http://www.life.uiuc.edu/r-gillette/.

If you would like to let us know what you are planning to study, I am sure you would find an interested audience.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Gary,
It sounds like you came across a couple of Sea Hares, many species of which produce the reddish ink you mention. Have a look at the picture of Aplysia dactylomela 'inking', and at the page of general information on Sea Hares. Also if you go to the General Topics Index you will find a list of pages dealing with Sea Hares. One of these has a list of species described in the Forum. You might recognise the species of your animal from some of those photos. They were either a species of Aplysia or possibly the related Dolabella auricularia.

If you are not familiar with the Sea Slug Forum, each page has a general summary at the top and then a number of messages underneath. It pays to read the messages as most of them have more information in the 'answer' accompanying them.

If you make any other interesting observations, or take photos of any nudibranchs or other slugs, they would be welcome on the Forum.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Joel,
I'm glad we could help you. You can print the pictures by printing the whole page. Go to FILE on the menu bar at the top of your screen and click on print. If you are using Netscape Navigator you can just print the pictures by putting the cursor (pointer) on the picture and then clicking with the right mouse button. A menu will come up giving you the choice to print the image.
In both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer you can use the right mouse button to save the pictures to a directory on your computer. You would then need to use a graphics program to print the picture.

I am happy for you to use any of my pictures for your class report but could you please say in your project where the pictures come from.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Joel,
A lot of people seem to be interested in Sea Hares at the moment. I had two messages yesterday about a species of swimming Sea Hare which seems to be common in Florida at the moment.

If you look through the Sea Slug Forum you will find that it is more than just a chat line and that there is quite a bit on Sea Hares. I have listed the main pages about Sea Hares below. Have a look through the messages and answers on each page as well because they have quite a lot of useful information in them. If you want some more information about Sea Slugs in general have a look at the General Topics List.

•Sea Hares - attack & defence, ink glands
•Sea Hares - chemical defence
•Sea Hares - collecting sites in Australasia
•Sea Hares - mating chains
•Sea Hares - Species List
•Sea Hares - what are they?

I hope you can find enough info on these pages. If not and you have a specific question or two then send me another message and I will see if I can help.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Jonathan'

Thanks for your note. As you note, in recent years Sea Hares have become very important laboratory animals for the study of the brain and nervous system. They have a relatively simple "brain" which consists of small clumps of nerve cells (ganglia) in which the individual cells are easy to see. It is therefore easy to study the workings of individual brain cells to find our how more complex brains like ours may have evolved. A good place for information about this research is at the Brainsurf site based on work done in learning and memory in the lab of Dr. Edgar T. Walters at UT Medical School, Houston, Texas. Another site, which is more for professionals, is The Aplysia Hometank.

Kandel's two books are important resources both for physiologists and biologists.

Kandel,ER (1979): Behavioural Biology of Aplysia. San Francisco, W.H.Freeman&Co.463pp.

Kandel,ER (1976): Cellular Basis of Behaviour. An introduction to behavioural neurobiology. W.H.Freeman & Co., San Francisco. 727 pages.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Terese and Ngaere,
I think your animals were Sea Hares, which are a type of Sea Slug. Have a look at the top of this page for some pictures and information on Sea Hares. Your species probably belong to the genus Aplysia. If you click on Search the Forum and type in Aplysia you will find a whole list of references to information on them in the Sea Slug Forum.

The 'membrane type thing' you noticed was their thin flattened shell which tends to crack and break when it dries out because has very little calcium carbonate, the chemical that makes snail shells strong. I have put a photo alongside of the fragile flattened shell of a Sea Hare. I am not sure of which species it is, but they all look very similar.

I suspect the 'opalised orange shells' you find on the beaches are something quite different. I think they are single valves of the bivalve (clam) Anomia or Monia which are often called 'jingle shells' or 'window oysters'. There shells are sometimes strung up for wind chimes hence the name 'jingle shell' and the shells of a large species in the northwestern Pacific, are fairly transparent and so called 'Window Oysters'. I have no idea if they were ever used for windows.

If you look through the Forum you will see that Sea Hares are often found washed up on beaches in large numbers.

Dear Dana,
If your animal looks like a Sea Hare, then it possibly is. Perhaps they were juveniles? The 'Black Sea Hare' in southern California, Aplysia vaccaria, grows to about 100cm, making it the largest species in the world. If yours were this species then they were definitely not adults.

It is difficult to even make a guess at what your animal was without a photo or even a sketch. And how small is 'small'? Can you give us a rough idea of how long it was?

It is possible someone familiar with the southern Californian fauna will recognise your description. Perhaps you should look at the Participants List for someone from California to write to.

I would be very interested in hearing more about your research project.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Soledad,
If you look through the Forum you will find quite a bit of information on aplysiids and references to particular aspects of their biology. In particular go to the GENERAL TOPICS index and look at the topics under Sea Hares. Also go to the SPECIES LIST and look at the species listed in the ORDER ANASPIDEA.

If you wish to have species identified and have photographs, I am happy to put them on the Sea Slug Forum to see if anyone can identify them. Hopefully someone on the west coast of North America with a knowledge of the east Atlantic Sea Hares will contact you directly.

If you have any photos or information you would like to share with the many opisthobranch workers who visit the Forum regularly, or questions you would like to ask, they would be very welcome.

Best wishes
Bill Rudman.

Thanks Cary,
I've put your research summary in the right place, and look forward to seeing your publications. Any pictures or observations you would like to contribute would be very welcome.
Bill Rudman.

PS: The reprint Cary refers to is: Rogers,CN, Williams,JE, Carson, DG, Steinberg,PD (1998). Diel vertical movement by mesograzers on seaweeds. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 166: 301-306.

It reports the daily vertical migration cycle of three herbivores - a snail, an echinoid, and the Sea Hare, Aplysia parvula, on their host algae.

Dear Bob,
I'm afraid Sea Hares in a Koi pond won't work. Sea water animals have a major problem in freshwater - they are unable to deal with the difference between their body's salt levels and the much lower salt levels of freshwater. Freshwater tends to rush into their tissues, to equalise the salt concentration, and they have no way of getting rid of it.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Bob,
The reddish looking dye is a pretty good clue that you are looking at a group of Sea Slugs called "Sea Hares", which often are found in large numbers stranded on beaches. Have a look at the picture on the Sea Hares - attack and defence page which shows Aplysia dactylomela "inking".

For information on Sea Hares look at the top of this page, above your message, and at the earlier messages about Sea Hares which are below your message.

Also, go to the index of GENERAL TOPICS and look at the entries about Sea Hares, where there is a lot of information on their biology.

And go to the SPECIES LIST and find the ORDER ANASPIDEA. All the animals listed there are Sea Hares. It is possible your species is either a species of Aplysia or perhaps a species of Bursatella.

I hope this is of some help,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Dear Dallas,

Both the speceis illustrated at the top of this page, Aplysia dactylomela and Aplysia parvula are tropical species but I don't know whether anyone has them for sale.

Have a look at my message about the NIH-Aplysia Resource Facility in Miami, Florida. Their website is at: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/ .

They grow Aplysia californica for commercial sale but you would have to ask then how small a quantity they would deal with. Aplysia californica is a cooler water species so you would have to ask them if it would survive in your temperature regime.

I don't know of anyone else that breeds and sells warm-water Sea Hares. Seems like a good excuse for a holiday in the tropics.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

PS: (Added Feb 3, 1999) Look at the message about selling Stylocheilus longicauda.

Dear Jim (and class),
If you have a look through the Sea Slug Forum you will find quite a bit on Sea Hares and other sea slugs. If you look at the GENERAL TOPICS list there are a number of entries on Sea Hares and eggs. Each page has a series of messages which are worth looking through for more information. If you go to the SPECIES LIST, all the species listed in the Order Anaspidea are Sea Hares.

For a more specialised search click on the "Search the Forum" button on the right side of the yellow panel at the top of your message and type in a word such as "mating" or "eggs" and it will list all the pages with those words.

To answer your specific questions:
1. Sea slugs are hermaphrodite, with both male and female reproductive organs. They don't self-fertilise and need a partner to mate. In some groups, including the Sea Hares you can sometimes find a string of animals forming a mating chain.
2. Sea slugs lay eggs in a jelly-like mass, often arranged in a spiral, or in the case of most Sea Hares a long tangled string. The eggs either hatch as free swimming larvae or as small crawling juveniles. Amongst those with free swimmimg larvae most spend between a few days and about a month living and feeding in the plankton before settling on to the substrate and turning into a crawling slug. Other species have larvae which only spend a short time in the plankton and don't feed until they settle and metamorphose inot a slug.
3. Sea Hares have a relatively simple nervous system but it is complex enough to have become the favorite laboratory animal amongst scientists studying how our brain works, how memory amd learning occur. Over 25,000 Californian Sea Hares are bred in captivity each year for this research.
Instead of having a single control centre (brain) in their nervous system, they have the nerve cells grouped into a number of centres (ganglia). Because the cells are large and brightly coloured, each individual cell can be mapped and its activity monitored. In this way ground-breaking research on how memory and learning occur is being undertaken. Because they have much fewer nerve cells in Sea Hares, such studies are much easier to understand than if they tried to work with our much more complicated brain.
4. Sea Slugs react to stimuli like most animals. They can feel things with all parts of their body, touch things with their oral tentacles and edge of head and they can smell chemicals in the water with their oral tentacles and rhinophores which both have nerve receptors. They are sensitive to light but their eyes, although very obvious, are unlikely to be able to see images. They seem to be able to sense light and dark and shadows passing over them.

I hope these answers help.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Tom,
Thanks for your instant reply. If you ever feel like sending any news from the Aplysiid world it would be very welcome.
Bill Rudman.

Dear Tom,

Thanks for the quick response.

I'm interested to see you've done some breeding of Bursatella. You may have see the Forum correspondence in the last couple of days with Doug Pearson concerning the possible affect large populations of Bursatella leachii could be having in his prawn ponds. He wonders whether the Bursatella larvae could be eating more than their fair share of the phytoplankton blooms he tries to maintain in his ponds. If you have any opinions, or information on larval Bursatella, I would be glad to post them on the Forum.

One quite unrelated question concerns growing Aplysia californica so far from home. Do you have measures in place to prevent Aplysia californica escaping into the environment and becoming a possible pest? In Australia we have many marine pests which have been introduced inadvertently, and as you can see from the messages in the Forum, at least three species of the carnivorous bubble shell Philine have been introduced into California in recent years.

Look forward to hearing from you,
Bill Rudman.

I have just been reading the website of the NIH-Aplysia Resource Facility in Miami, Florida. I think the site has just been updated. It is at: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/ .

They produce Aplysia for laboratory use and last year shipped out over 25,000 animals! So if anyone wants Aplysia by the truckload have a look here. What really amazes me is nowhere could I find the name of the species they are selling!

They also have a newsletter called Slime Lines outlining their research work which can be read online. I have appended the first two paragraphs of their introduction for background information.

"The Aplysia Resource Facility at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences provides high quality, laboratory cultured Aplysia for biomedical researchers throughout the world. Originally located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the mariculture operation moved to its present facility on Virginia Key in 1989 and has operated under a contract from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until 1994. In May 1995, the Resource became the "National Resource for Aplysia" under a grant (RR10294) from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Advances in the understanding of the larval development of Aplysia by Kreigstein, Castellucci and Kandel (1974) and the application of large-scale mariculture techniques by Tom Capo, manager of the facility, led to mass production in 1983. The facility's move to sub-tropical Miami allowed the high yield mariculture of the animal's main food, the red alga Gracilaria, ensuring a year round supply of animals. Over the past twelve months, the facility has shipped over 25,000 animals."

Bill Rudman.

Hopefully someone visiting the Forum can help. It would be interesting to know what sort of research you are engaged in.. Bill Rudman

Dear Sara,
Have a look at the various messages and comments listed in the Sea Hares topics in the General Index . ... Bill Rudman

Dear Sandie, I guess the Morro Beach you are talking of is in California? If so I am afraid I am not the best person to ask about animals from your part of the world. I can make some guesses though. If your animal began "oozing purple goo" then perhaps it was a Sea Hare which are a sea slugs which squirt out reddish-purple ink when disturbed. Also have a look at the other items about Sea Hares which are listed on the GENERAL TOPICS page.

Do you think it was a Sea Hare? If it doesn't seem to have been one I think you should get in touch with your local Museum where someone with more local knowledge should be able to help you. Could you let us know what you discover .. Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Glad to oblige... Bill Rudman

See below for answer.. Bill Rudman

Thanks for the reference.. Bill Rudman

Since aplysiid eggmasses are so large most researchers don't actually count individual eggs, they weigh egg masses or measure eggs per capsule etc. to get some idea of total egg production. Egg production, like anyone who has kept hens knows, depends on the health and fitness of the egg-layer. None of this helps you answer a trivia question so on the belief that trivia question makers wouldn't be searching the scientific literature very deeply I had a look at MacFarland's monograph on Californian opisthobranchs and found one reference to Aplysia californica in which the number of eggs in one mass was estimated to be 86 million. Another specimen kept in an aquarium for 5 months laid approximately 478 million eggs.

So I guess 86 million is your answer.

Let us know whether you win
Bill Rudman

If you want to find a Sea Hare you would be best to go to your local museum or natural history society for advice. I know they occur in California but you would be best to find someone with some local knowledge ... Bill Rudman.

"Sea Hares" is the common name for a large group (Order ANASPIDEA) of herbivorous sea slugs most of which belong to the genus Aplysia. The common name was used as far back as the time of Aristotle in Ancient Greece where the Mediterranean species was likened to a sitting Hare, the large parapodia resembling the rounded back of the hare, and the rhinopores or head tentacles resembling the hare's ears. The Greeks and Romans, following fanciful accounts recorded by Aristotle, considered these animals to be poisonous to the touch, which is nonsense. Some, but not all species produce a purple ink when disturbed or stood on (see comments on Sea Hares - attack & defence), but it is not particularly toxic and despite some claims that it is a defence mechanism, like the ink of an Octopus, there is no evidence to support the idea.

Can they be pets? If you mean can they be kept in captivity, the answer is that they can be easily maintained in aquaria. However because they eat sea weeds, which are very difficult to keep alive in small aquaria it is not very practical to keep them at home, although in a recent message I received from Melanie Carver she feeds Aplysia californica on the Sea Lettuce Ulva, and has discovered they will survive on ordinary lettuce if nothing else is available. In large research establishments with aquarium systems with circulating sea water etc, Sea Hares are easy to maintain and breed. In recent years Sea Hares have become very important laboratory animals for the study of the brain and nervous system. They have a relatively simple "brain" which consists of small clumps of nerve cells (ganglia) in which the individual cells are easy to see. It is therefore easy to study the workings of individual brain cells to find our how more complex brains like ours may have evolved. A good place for information about this research is at The Aplysia Hometank.

I have included pictures of some Sea Hares here. If you search for "Aplysia" on some of the websites I have listed in the Sea Slug Forum, you should find some more. Also look under ORDER ANASPIDEA in our SPECIES LIST and under Sea Hares in the GENERAL TOPICS for more information .... Bill Rudman