Aplysia juliana, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 the walking sea hare, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of sea slug

Sea slug

Sea slug is a common name used for several different groups of saltwater snails that either lack a shell or have only an internal shell, in other words this name is used for various lineages of marine gastropod mollusks that are either not conchiferous or appear not to be.The phrase "sea slug" is...

, more specifically a sea hare

Sea hare

The clade Aplysiomorpha, commonly known as Sea hares or Sea Bags , are medium-sized to very large Opisthobranchia with a soft internal shell made of protein...

, a marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

  gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae

Aplysiidae

The superfamily Aplysioidea is a superfamily of mostly rather large sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Aplysiomorpha within the informal group Opisthobranchia.This superfamily contains only one family, the Aplysiidae; the sea hares...

, the sea hares.

Distribution

Distribution of this species is cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan distribution

In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. For instance, the killer whale has a cosmopolitan distribution, extending over most of the world's oceans. Other examples include humans, the lichen...

, circumtropical in all warm seas.

Description

This sea hare has no purple gland and therefore cannot produce ink, just milky secretions. The posterior end of the foot in this species can act as a sucker.

The color of this sea hare is very often brown with paler spots, but it can be various other shades including plain black all over.

The maximum recorded length is 300 mm.

External links

• http://www.seaslugforum.net/display.cfm?id=10355