''Aplysia fasciata'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

the "mottled sea hare", or the "sooty sea hare", is an Atlantic

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of sea hare or

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

opisthobranch Opisthobranchs () is now an informal name for a large and diverse group of specialized complex gastropods which used to be united in the subclass Opisthobranchia. That taxon is no longer considered to represent a monophyletic grouping. Euopisth ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family

Aplysiidae Aplysiidae is the only family in the superfamily Aplysioidea, within the clade Anaspidea. These animals are commonly called sea hares because, unlike most sea slugs, they are often quite large, and when they are underwater, their rounded body sh ...

Distribution

This sea hare occurs in the Western Atlantic from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

to Brazil, and in the Eastern Atlantic including the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and the West African coast. They have also been sighted along the Atlantic coast of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is a rare visitor to the seas off the southern

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

(the related '' A. punctata'' is regular along most British coasts, as well as the northeast Atlantic). Some consider the species ''Aplysia brasiliana'', found in the Atlantic coast of the Americas, to be a synonym of ''Aplysia fasciata'' with just a different regional colour pattern.

Description

''Aplysia fasciata'' can grow to sizes up to 40 cm long. Coloring is often black or a very dark brown, sometimes with a thin red border to the parapodia, foot, and tentacles. Many also have mottled spots which span across their body, earning the name "mottled sea hare". ''Aplysia fasciata'' have, like most sea slugs, two oral tentacles and two more smaller rhinopores in front on their neck. Eyes are positioned in front of the rhinopores. Small, rounded "tails" are fixed to their hindside. A mantle covers its gills and internal organs. Inside the mantle, a thin, delicate inner shell lays. The shell is concave, with amber coloring and a slightly hooked apex. Inside the mantle is the ink gland.

Behavior

''Aplysia fasciata'' eat algae and seaweed attached to rocks and other surfaces. They are often seen swimming in groups, along tide pools and rocks. These sea hares also secrete a sort of ink. The ink takes on a purple hue, a result of eating red algae. It is believed to be non-toxic, though is assumed that the ink is secreted as a result of a sort of physical "assault" on the sea hare. Egg masses appear as a long, pale cream mass. They are somewhat noodle-like in appearance. A sea hare swimming in a tide pool in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.">alt= ''Aplysia fasciata'' are known for their "graceful" swimming. They often flap their parapodia, often being described as "flapping wings".

References

* Abbott, R.T. (1974). ''American Seashells''. 2nd ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York, NY (USA). 663 pp. * Vine, P. (1986). Red Sea Invertebrates. Immel Publishing, London. 224 pp. * Turgeon, D.; Quinn, J.F.; Bogan, A.E.; Coan, E.V.; Hochberg, F.G.; Lyons, W.G.; Mikkelsen, P.M.; Neves, R.J.; Roper, C.F.E.; Rosenberg, G.; Roth, B.; Scheltema, A.; Thompson, F.G.; Vecchione, M.; Williams, J.D. (1998). ''Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks''. 2nd ed. American Fisheries Society Special Publication, 26. American Fisheries Society: Bethesda, MD (USA). . IX, 526 + cd-rom pp. (look up in IMIS) page(s): 122 * Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). ''European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification''. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213 ( * Martinez E. & Ortea J. (2002). ''On the synonymy between Aplysia winneba Eales, 1957 and Aplysia fasciata Poiret, 1789 (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia: Anaspidea).'' Iberus 20(2): 11-21 * Rolán E., 2005. '' Malacological Fauna From The Cape Verde Archipelago. Part 1, Polyplacophora and Gastropoda.'' * Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. ''Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico'', Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.

External links

* {{Taxonbar">from=Q3735973 fasciata Gastropods described in 1789 Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea