Seagrass sea hares (Phyllaplysia) on the Shores of Singapore

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Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda > sea slugs > Order Anaspidea

Seagrass sea hare
Phyllaplysia sp.*
Family Aplysiidae
updated Sep 12

Where seen? This tiny slug is sometimes seen in numbers on Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides).

Features: 1cm or less. Long narrow, flat translucent body with fine white lines. With two pairs of tentacles. It seems to graze on algae and/or other encrusting organisms growing on the seagrass blades as the area around the slug is often 'clean' of encrusting growths.

Pulau Hantu, Nov 09

Sentosa, Dec 10

Pulau Hantu, Nov 09

St. John's Island, Nov 12

St. John's Island, Nov 12

St. John's Island, Nov 12

Filmed on Pulau Hantu, Jan 11

transparent Enhalus ghost slug 22Jan2011 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Seagrass sea hares on Singapore shores

Photos for free download from wildsingapore flickr

*Species are difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of display.

Links

Phyllaplysia spp. on the Sea Slug Forum by Dr Bill Rudman: photos and fact sheet.

References

Humann, Paul and Ned Deloach. 2010. Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific New World Publications. 497pp.

www.flickr.com

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