Does anyone know what a giant sea hare is???

Question

My friend Kaeli is dying to know. ('cause she's got typing skillz)

Answer 1

Hawaii has many types of opisthobranchs some of which are undescribed species.  Some of these will go through population surges, abundant one year and absent another, or seasonal appearances.  Most live less than a year and will be found near the specific food they eat.  Food includes  seaweeds and a wide assortment of small invertebrates such as sponges, cnidarians, and mollusks.  Slugs that feed upon  green seaweed often store algal cells in their mantle for photosynthesis.  Sea Hares produce a purple ink from  red algae when disturbed.  Others may produce toxic compounds from food or store stinging cells in the body as defense against predators.  Good places to find them are under stones in the intertidal zone and shady walls and caverns in deeper water.  As with many invertebrates more will be seen at night.

Sea hares have plump bodies with two sets of parapodia on the head.  The mantle is split laterally forming an opening for respiration.  They feed upon red algae and exude a noxious purple dye when disturbed.  Populations are dynamic, abundant some years and absent in others.  They are hermaphroditic and may form mating chains of many animals.

http://www.marinelifephotography.com/mar...

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find.cfm?id=...

http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species...

Answer 2

YOUR MOM

Answer 3

yeah, it's a disease that grows out of your skin when you swim in the ocean

Answer 4

The Giant Sea Hare is from California

any marine gastropod of the family Aplysiidae (subclass Opisthobranchia) that is characterized by a shell reduced to a flat plate, prominent tentacles (resembling rabbit ears), and a smooth or warty body. Sea hares eat large seaweeds. An example is the 10-centimetre (4-inch) spotted sea hare (Aplysia dactylomela), a ring-spotted green species living in grassy shallows…

Answer 5

Cc the first 1

Answer 6

Sea Hares (occasionaly referred to as "Giant") are mollusks.  They are invertebrates that have bilaterally symmetrical bodies, well-developed nervous and digestive systems, mantle, and muscular foot.

Sea Hares have plump bodies with two sets of parapodia on the head.  The mantle is split laterally forming an opening for respiration.  They feed upon red algae and exude a noxious purple dye when disturbed.  Populations are dynamic, abundant some years and absent in others.  They are hermaphroditic and may form mating chains of many animals.

For more information, please see

http://www.marinelifephotography.com/mar...

Answer 7

a sea creature

Answer 8

Don't they feed on Giant Sea Cucumbers?

http://www.marinelifephotography.com/mar...

http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_species...

Each sea hare is both male and female, but they still need to mate. Dozens pile up for sea hare orgies. They mate in lines and circles: each is male to the one in front and female to the one behind, so each is both a mother and a father. Sea hares may lay up to eighty million eggs apiece. But most of these mother-fathers' eggs are eaten by predators.



Diet algae and eelgrass

Size up to 16 inches (40.6 cm), 30 pounds (13.6 kg)

Range Northern California to Gulf of California

Relatives sea slugs and marine snails; phylum Mollusca, class Gastropoda

Conservation Notes Many kinds of plants, birds, fish, shellfish and other animals depend on the special mix of fresh and salt water found in sloughs and estuaries. When we protect wetlands against development, we protect the homes of many animals.

Cool Facts When threatened by predators, sea hares release a dark purple fluid in defense. The ink gets its purple color from a pigment in the red algae that makes up part of the sea hare's diet.

Sea hares can't see like we do; their simple eyes can only tell light from dark.

Answer 9

It's a really weird slug-resembling gastropod ocean creature.  It moves pretty fast (for a giant slug), and is about 5-6 inches long if memory serves me correctly.

Answer 10

It's a giant sea slug. They're really cool, there is a lot in Catalina.