Aplysia

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Aplysia

Aplysia californica

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Orthogastropoda
Superorder:	Heterobranchia
Order:	Opisthobranchia
Suborder:	Anaspidea
Superfamily:	Aplysioidea
Family:	Aplysiidae
Genus:	Aplysia

Species

See text.

The genus Aplysia belongs to the family Aplysiidae and is a genus of sea hares, which are a type of sea slug. The general description of these sea hares can be found under the entry about the superfamily Aplysioidea (Sea hares)

Aplysia, when threatened, releases 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 this ink release response is mediated by electrical synapses, which allow several neurons to fire synchronously (Kandel et al., 2000). This quick neural response is necessary for a speedy reaction to danger by the animal.

Aplysia brasiliana (Rang, 1828) Mottled Sea Hare, Sooty Sea Hare (possibly = Aplysia fasciata)
- Distribution : West-Atlantic from New Jersey to Brazil, East-Atlantic around Ghana
- Length : up to 27 cm
- Color : variable
Aplysia californica (J.G. Cooper, 1863) California Sea Hare, California Black Sea Hare
Aplysia cedrocensis (Bartsch & Rehder, 1939)
Aplysia cervina (Dall & Simpson, 1901)
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 depilans (Gmelin, 1791)
- Distribution : Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean.
- Description : thin, yellow inner shell
Aplysia donca (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1960)
- Distribution : North America, West-Atlantic
Aplysia extraordinaria (Allan, 1932) (possibly = Aplysia gigantea)
- Distribution : Western Australia, New Zealand.
- Length : more than 40 cm
Aplysia fasciata (Poiret, 1798) (possibly = Aplysia brasiliana).
- Distribution : East Atlantic, West Africa.
- Length : 40 cm
- Color : dark brown to black.
- Description : sometimes a red border to the parapodia and oral tentacles;
Aplysia geographica (Adams & Reeve, 1850)
Aplysia gigantea
- Distribution : Western Australia.
- Length : 60 cm
- Color : dark brown to black
- Description : the skin secretions are very distasteful; washed up specimens; have been implicated in the deaths of dogs;
Aplysia juliana (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832) Walking Sea Hare
- Distribution: cosmopolitan, 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 kurodai (Baba, 1937)
- Distribution: NW Pacific
- Length: 30 cm
- Color: dark brown to purplish black, dotted with white spots
Aplysia morio (A. E. Verrill, 1901) Atlantic Black Sea Hare, Sooty Sea Hare
- Distribution: East Atlantic
- Length: 40 cm
- Color: black to deep brown; no spots
Aplysia oculifera (Adams & Reeve, 1850)
- Distribution: Indian Ocean; West Pacific
- Description: small brown eye-spots
Aplysia parvula (Guilding in Moerch, 1863) Pygmy Sea Hare
- Distribution : worldwide in warm to temperate seas
- Length: 6 cm
- Color: brown to green spots
Aplysia punctata (Cuvier, 1803) (possibly = Aplysia punctata)
- Distribution: NE Atlantic
- Length: 20 cm
- Color: very variable
Aplysia reticulopoda (Beeman, 1960) Net-foot Sea Hare
Aplysia sagamiana (Baba, 1949)
- Distribution: East Australia, Japan;
Aplysia sibogae (Bergh, 1905) (probably = Aplysia juliana)
Aplysia sydneyensis (Sowerby, 1869)
- Distribution: Australia
- Length: 15 cm
- Description: not clearly defined
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
Aplysia willcoxi (Hellprin, 1886)