Sea Hare

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Sea Hare

(Aplysia sp.)

Order: ANASPIDEA
Superfamily: APLYSIOIDEA

ABOUT

Sea Hares are close family to the nudibranch and consist of 9 genera: Aplysia, Bursatella, Dolabella, Dolabrifera, Notarchus, Petalifera, Phyllaplysia, Stylocheilus and Syphonota. They range in size from species growing less than 2 cm, to large species which reach over 70 cm in length. They usually have a head bearing a pair of enrolled rhinophores, and large flattened, enrolled oral tentacles on each side of the mouth. The shell, when present, is reduced to a thinly calcified internal plate over the gill and heart. This very reduced mantle cavity is enveloped in a pair of large parapodial lobes, which in some genera are partially fused to form a secondary parapodial chamber.

These animals have been called 'Sea Hares' since classical times because of their resemblance - at least in European species - to a sitting hare.

In general, Sea Hares are quite harmless, and are often favourite items in 'touch tanks' for children in aquarium displays. There have been a few accounts of Dolabella auricularia causing food poisoning, but it is suspected that it the result of some posionous algae in the internal organs.