#aplysiidae

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Sea hares aren't as fast as their terrestrial namesake, so they've evolved a host of other defenses. One of the most effective is the production of opaline-- a milky, viscous goo that contains chemicals which can fool predators like spiny lobsters into thinking the cloud is their intended target, while the real sea hare makes its escape. The opaline's thick, sticky texture also dampens the lobster's sense of taste and smell, so even if the sea hare is slow to move away its would-be predator won't detect it.

(Image: A black sea hare (Aplysia vaccaria) by Marco Mazza)

[creatureimages]

the sug

[herpsandbirds]

Geographic Sea Hare (Syphonota geographica), family Aplysiidae, order, Kata beach, Phuket, Thailand

Though sea hares are refered to as sea slugs, they are not in the same order as Nudibranchs.

photograph by Stuart Childs

[lazchance]

hello my dears... squishy seahare today

look carefully at the shore... among the seagrass and seaweed and you may see a curious squishy lump slowly crawling across... with its large hairy tentacles giving it its name of the ragged seahare (Bursatella leachii). when out of water the hairy tentacles retract and reveal these bright blue spots dotted all across the curious critter

although not the most apparent in these still photos. they bear four front tentacles that resemble arms and bunny ears... hence a 'sea hare'

when threatened it releases a bright reddish purple dye that quickly stains the seawater. im not keen on hurting it just to show off the dye but you can google pics and see for yourself that its an impressively vibrant dye produced from their diet of cyanobacteria

[rattyexplores]

Beautiful sea hare found in a shallow tidepool.

06/11/23 - Aplysia reticulata

QLD:WET - Etty Bay

[rattyexplores]

Sea hares found on the shores of Woppa. These fat little slugs littered the beach whilst the tide was out, young beachgoers often playing with them.

I'm used to seeing slugs inside tidepools, so this was certainly a shock to me. The slugs only had the soft, loose sand to grab onto, and were often found high up on the shore, presumably feeding on the brown algae which had washed up. The slugs would let the waves carry them, with seemingly little thought of where they actually ended up.

When the tide rose again, the slugs would've been carried out to sea, waiting for the next chance to feed on algae.

13/09/23 - Bursatella ocelligera

QLD:CQC, Woppa (Great Keppel Island), ocean shore (low tide)

[ichneumoniid]

I cannot emphasize enough how unexpected this creature was. A mucousy blob nearly the size of my foot revealed itself to be a seahare when moved back into the water

(Aplysia brasiliana, 12/23/2025)

[mondaymorgue]

Photos: Niroot Phuket & Phuket Lifeguard Service on Phuket News

Thailand: Mass sea slug beachings at Phuket By Nuppol Suvansombut, 8th March 2016;

Phuket residents have discovered hundreds of sea slugs washed up on the beach in Kratoo district. Marine biologists have speculated that beachings could have been caused by higher sea temperatures.

Mr. Supasit Boonpienpol, a marine biologist from the Phuket Marine Biological Center, said the sea slugs found at Kamala beach were not poisonous. He suspects that sea pollution and rising water temperatures could have forced these animals to swim closer to the beach before meeting their end.

Kratoo district sheriff Sayan Chanachaiwong and officials from related agencies visited the beach to observe the animals. Mr. Supasit has collected some of these slugs and taken samples of seawater and sand to the laboratory to determine the cause of death.

The mass sea slug beachings have not deterred tourists. Many continued to relax on the beach and go for a swim.

Source:

These have been identified as Lined Sea Hare (Stylocheilus striatus), a species known to aggregate in large numbers, followed by mass mortality. One possibility is that prior to this event, environmental conditions were suitable for abnormally large numbers of juveniles to mature and develop, followed by all of them dying together as they reach the end of their natural lifespan. It's also possible that these aggregations had formed as a result of a local abundance of food, only to be killed by adverse conditions such as overheating and desiccation by the sun at low tide.