Hairy sea hares (Bursatella leachii) on the Shores of Singapore

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Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > sea slugs > Order Anaspidea

Hairy sea hare
Bursatella leachii
Family Aplysiidae
updated Sep 12

if you learn only 3 things about them ...

Sea hares may secrete a purple dye. But don't tease them to make them do this.

Although they can be quite large, they are well camouflaged. Watch your step!

Sea hares have very specialised diets and should not be kept in home aquariums.

Where seen? This hirsute sea hare is sometimes seen on our Northern shores among seagrasses and seaweeds. Sometimes many are seen everywhere, then they are no longer seen for many months. Sometimes, they are seen gathered together, densely packed in large numbers, possibly mating? Or simply gathering around a good source of food?

Features: 6-12cm. Body long, fleshy with a short triangular tail which has white bars. It is covered with lots of flat branching finger-like projections. It has two pairs of tentacles, oral tentacles and rhinophores about the same size (you have to look carefully among the hairy bits to distinguish the tentacles). The parapodia appears to be a hole in the centre of the body, rather than 'wings' or flaps as in other large sea hares. It may come in different shades of brown, sometimes bluish, sometimes with orangey 'hairs', usually with bright blue spots which are ringed in brown. It is usually well camouflaged and blends in perfectly with among seaweeds and seagrasses. Like some other sea hares, it produces a purple ink when disturbed.

Sometimes mistaken for the Furry sea hare (Stylocheilus sp.). More on how to tell apart hairy slugs and snails.

What does it eat? It eats cyanobacteria, in particular, the mat-forming Lyngbya majuscula, which was formerly known as the filamentous blue-green alga Microcoleus lyngbyaceus. Apparently, Bursatella sea hares swallow large amounts of sand in the process of eating, somewhat like earthworms do.