Home
Acknowledgments
Conventions
Glossary
Maps
References
Links
Articles
Thumbnails
Species list
Family
Next species
_______________
 
Additional Photos
 

underside
 

interior
 

green
 

young, 3 mm
 


young shell


laying eggs
_______________
 
GALLERY



 
Aplysia oculifera
(Adams & Reeve, 1850)
 
Aplysia oculifera
Maximum size:  60 mm (Kay, 1979).

Identification:  This is a brown to olive-green sea hare flecked with white and usually with small white and brown ocelli on the sides of its parapodia. The parapodia are tall and ruffled.

Natural history:  Aplysia oculifera  is a moderately common (though sporadic) sea hare found in protected to moderately exposed rocky habitats and Halimeda kanaloana beds at depths of < 1 to 27 m (< 3 to 90 ft). Scott Johnson also reports it from the intertidal (Bertsch and Johnson, 1981). It lays a tangled yellow egg string and, like many Aplysia spp, releases purple mucus when disturbed.

Distribution:  Big Island, Maui, Oahu, Kauai and Midway: widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific.

Taxonomic notes:  It's referred to as the "eyed sea hare" in Hoover, 1998 & 2006. It's likely that the animal listed as an undetermined form of Tethys in Edmondson, 1946 was this species.

Photo:  CP: 20 mm: found by PF; Maalaea Bay, Maui; April 6, 2005.

Observations and comments:

Note 1:  ( )
Thumbnails
Species list
Family Next species Top