FLOATING through Great Lakes’ currents last month were a slug-like marine animal identified as a sea hare or slug.
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“They are a species of sea hare, from what I can deduce, could be Aplysia extraordinaria,” Great Lakes Underwater Group member and Coastal Catchment support officer for MidCoast Council Isabelle Strachan said.
Certainly Shane Chalker’s photos taken at Tuncurry Rockpool resemble creatures of the same name online.
“There were heaps of them, I counted as many as 50 at one time,” Shane said.
They are quite extraordinary looking. The online seaslugforum.net states there are many specimens which generally grow up to 120mm long, but can be as long as 400mm in length.
The species is commonly found in large bays and inlets along the NSW coast, with large numbers washing up onshore. As an active swimmer, the slug “vigorously flaps its large parapodia and rhythmically flexes its body up and down”. It also produces clouds of reddish-purple ink when disturbed.
Similar looking species have been found on the other side of the world, including the eastern coastline of Africa.
Sea slugs are found all over the world, but like other animals, each species lives in a certain geographical area, and prefers a particular habitat.
They generally creep along the bottom or cling to submerged vegetation just below the tide line. Some swim on the surface in open ocean. The largest special of sea slug is found on the Great Barrier Reef, and grows up to 30cm.