I recently shared some photos of many Aplysia sea hares we found at Wild Dog Creek. My nephew joined us about 20 minutes later… and found another rockpool with even more sea hares.
My first thought was that many of these sea hares were mating with each other and that I’d interrupted a sea hare orgy. I tried Googling to learn more about sea hare behaviour. I ended up finding references to a different Aplyia species, Aplysia Californica, that engage in mating chains.
I’m still not sure what behaviour I’m observing in these photos. They do provide clearer views which should help with identification.