Aplysia

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 Linnaeus, 1767
Species
See text.

The genus Aplysia belongs to the family Aplysiidae and is a genus of sea hares, which are a type of large 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.

Species within the genus Aplysia

• 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 keraudreni rang, 1828
  • Distribution: Pacific
  • Length: 25 cm
  • Color: dark brown
• 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 nigra brunnea Hutton, 1875
  • Distribution: New Zealand
  • Length: 10 cm
  • Color: dark brown
• 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)

References

• Kandel Eric R., Schwartz, J.H., Jessell, T.M. 2000. Principles of Neural Science, 4th ed., p.180. McGraw-Hill, New York.

External links

• Photos Aplysia - MondoMarino.net