Overview

Comprehensive Description

Aplysia oculifera -Ratnagiri

"small brown 'eye rings' [which give it the name oculifera] but in your specimens they are just small brown spots. However each brown spot is sitting on a translucent brown patch, which is just the same as the brown rings in more typical A. oculifera. That species often has quite a dense covering of small white spots. Although not as plentiful in your animals, you can certainly see them in your photos." by Bill Rudman Rudman, W.B., 2009 (Mar 11). Comment on Aplysia? from Ratnagiri, India by Vishal J. Bhave.. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=22329
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Ecology

Habitat

Depth range based on 297 specimens in 19 taxa.
Water temperature and chemistry ranges based on 100 samples.

Environmental ranges
  Depth range (m): 0 - 1253
  Temperature range (°C): 2.894 - 29.212
  Nitrate (umol/L): 0.099 - 44.010
  Salinity (PPS): 32.580 - 37.969
  Oxygen (ml/l): 0.542 - 6.453
  Phosphate (umol/l): 0.006 - 3.268
  Silicate (umol/l): 0.380 - 151.324

Graphical representation

Depth range (m): 0 - 1253

Temperature range (°C): 2.894 - 29.212

Nitrate (umol/L): 0.099 - 44.010

Salinity (PPS): 32.580 - 37.969

Oxygen (ml/l): 0.542 - 6.453

Phosphate (umol/l): 0.006 - 3.268

Silicate (umol/l): 0.380 - 151.324
 
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Wikipedia

Aplysia

Aplysia is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs, specifically sea hares, which are one clade of large sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks. The general description of sea hares can be found in the article on the superfamily Aplysioidea.

These benthic herbivorous sea hares can become rather large compared with most other mollusks. They graze in tidal and subtidal zones of tropical waters, mostly in the Indo-Pacific Ocean (23 species); but they can also be found in the Atlantic Ocean (12 species), with a few species occurring in the Mediterranean.

Aplysia species, when threatened, mostly release clouds of ink to blind the attacker. Following the lead of Eric R. Kandel, the genus has been studied as a model organism by neurobiologists, because its siphon-withdrawal response, as studied in Aplysia californica, is mediated by electrical synapses, which allow several neurons to fire synchronously (Kandel et al., 2000). (See : Aplysia gill and siphon withdrawal reflex) This quick neural response is necessary for a speedy reaction to danger by the animal. Aplysia has only about 20,000 neurons making it a favorite case to study for reductionist neuroscientists.[1]

Species

Species within the genus Aplysia are as follows. This list follows the studies of Medina et al. who established a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus Aplysia through study of the partial mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data of ribosomal genes (rDNA).

  • Aplysia californica (J.G. Cooper, 1863) California sea hare
    • Distribution : Northeast Pacific
  • Aplysia cedrocensis (Bartsch & Rehder, 1939)
    • Distribution : Northeast Pacific
  • Aplysia cervina (Dall & Simpson, 1901)
    • Distribution : West Atlantic
  • Aplysia cornigera Sowerby, 1869
    • Distributuion: Indian Ocean, West Pacific
  • Aplysia cronullae Eales, 1960
    • Distribution : Southwest Pacific
  • Aplysia dactylomela (Rang, 1828) Spotted sea hare
    • Distribution : Cosmopolitan; tropical and temperate seas.
    • Color : from pale gray to green to dark brown.
    • Description : large black rings on the mantle; good swimmer
  • Aplysia denisoni Smith, 1884
    • Distribution : Indian Ocean, West Pacific
  • Aplysia depilans (Gmelin, 1791)
    • Distribution : Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean.
    • Description : thin, yellow inner shell
  • Aplysia dura Eales, 1960
    • Distribution : Southeast Atlantic, Southwest Pacific
  • Aplysia euchlora Adams in M.E.Gray, 1850
    • Distribution : Northwest Pacific
  • Aplysia extraordinaria (Allan, 1932) (possibly = Aplysia gigantea)
    • Distribution : Western Australia, New Zealand.
    • Length : more than 40 cm
  • Aplysia fasciata (Poiret, 1798) ( Aplysia brasiliana Rang, 1828 is a junior synonym).
    • Distribution : East Atlantic, Mediterranean, West Africa, Red Sea
    • Length : 40 cm
    • Color : dark brown to black.
    • Description : sometimes has a red border to the parapodia and oral tentacles;
  • Aplysia gigantea Sowerby, 1869
    • Distribution : Indian Ocean, West Pacific
  • Aplysia gracilis Eales, 1960 [citation needed]
    • Distribution : Red Sea
  • Aplysia inca d'Orbigny, 1837
    • Distribution : Southeast Pacific
  • Aplysia juliana (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832) Walking sea hare
    • Distribution: cosmopolitan, circumtropical in all warm seas
    • Color: various, from uniform to pale brown
    • Description: no purple gland, therefore no ink secretions; posterior end of the foot can act as a sucker
  • Aplysia keraudreni Rang, 1828
    • Distribution: South Pacific
    • Length: 25 cm
    • Color: dark brown
  • Aplysia kurodai (Baba, 1937)
    • Distribution: NW Pacific
    • Length: 30 cm
    • Color: dark brown to purplish black, dotted with white spots
  • Aplysia maculata Rang, 1828
    • Distribution : Western Indian Ocean
  • Aplysia morio (A. E. Verrill, 1901) Atlantic black sea hare, sooty sea hare
    • Distribution: Northwest Atlantic
    • Length: 40 cm
    • Color: black to deep brown; no spots
  • Aplysia nigra d'Orbigny, 1837
    • Distribution : Southwest Atlantic, South Pacific
  • Aplysia nigra brunnea Hutton, 1875
    • Distribution: New Zealand
    • Length: 10 cm
    • Color: dark brown
  • Aplysia oculifera (Adams & Reeve, 1850) Spotted sea hare
    • Distribution: Indian Ocean; West Pacific; common along the north, east and south coast of South Africa
    • Length: 15 cm
    • Description: greenish brown, with small brown to black spots with white centres
    • Habitat: shallow bays and estuaries
    • Behaviour: hides by day; emerges at night to feed on seaweed
  • Aplysia parvula (Guilding in Moerch, 1863) Pygmy sea hare, Dwarf sea hare
    • Distribution : worldwide in warm to temperate seas
    • Length: 6 cm
    • Color: brown to green spots
  • Aplysia pulmonica Gould, 1852
    • Distribution : West Pacific
  • Aplysia punctata (Cuvier, 1803)
    • Distribution: NE Atlantic
    • Length: 20 cm
    • Color: very variable
  • Aplysia rehderi Eales, 1960
    • Distribution : Northeast Pacific
  • Aplysia reticulata Eales, 1960
    • Distribution : Southwest Pacific
  • Aplysia reticulopoda (Beeman, 1960) Net-foot sea hare
    • Distribution : Northeast Pacific
  • Aplysia robertsi Pilsbry, 1895
    • Distribution : Northeast Pacific
  • Aplysia rudmani Bebbington, 1974
    • Distribution : Indian Ocean
  • Aplysia sagamiana (Baba, 1949)
    • Distribution: East Australia, Japan; Northwest Pacific
  • Aplysia sibogae (Bergh, 1905) (?)(probably = Aplysia juliana)
  • Aplysia sowerbyi Pilsbry, 1895
    • Distribution : Southwest Pacific
  • Aplysia sydneyensis (Sowerby, 1869)
    • Distribution: Australia
    • Length: 15 cm
    • Description: not clearly defined
  • Aplysia tanzanensis Bebbington, 1974
    • Distribution : Indian Ocean
  • Aplysia tigrinella Gray, 1850
  • Aplysia vaccaria (Winkler, 1955) California black sea hare (possibly  ?= Aplysia cedrocensis)
    • Distribution: Pacific Coast of California
    • Length: very big – up to 75 cm
    • Color: black
    • Description: no purple ink; huge internal shell
Species brought into synonymy

References

  1. ^ Redish, Edward F. (2003). "Chapter 2: Cognitive Principles and Guidelines for Instruction". Teaching Physics With The Physics Suite. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-471-39378-8. 
  • Howson, C.M.; Picton, B.E. (Ed.) (1997). The species directory of the marine fauna and flora of the British Isles and surrounding seas. Ulster Museum Publication, 276. The Ulster Museum: Belfast, UK. ISBN 0-948150-06-8. vi, 508 (+ cd-rom) pp
  • 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
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