• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

JadeCraven.Org

My Nature Blog

  • About
  • Trip Reports
  • Life List

Seeing A Sea Hare At Night: Apollo Bay Harbour

March 15, 2018 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On my last trip to Apollo Bay, I encountered two sea hares. You can read more about them at:

  • Sea Hare in Apollo Bay Harbour
  • More Apollo Bay Sea Hares

I was so enamoured that I decided that I would buy a GoPro to help with my rockpooling efforts. The one I was looking at was in the 500+ range so I put it off as one of the things I’d try to get before next summer. Until I got an email from JB Hifi saying that you could get a GoPro 4 for $200.

Sold! And, armed with fancy technology, I asked my family if I could visit Apollo Bay with them the next weekend.

As I will explain, my GoPro experiments were a bit hit and miss. However, it was all worth it. On the final night, when rockpooling with Seth, we came across these guys:

20180305_220148

There were two sea hares. Annoyingly, we discovered them about 10 minutes before my parents were due to pick us up. They offered to take Seth home and let me stay there for longer but I was knackered. I’d gotten what I wanted and was content.

Ironically, the GoPro footage didn’t really work. I was shooting underwater from the side and the light was coming from above, so it didn’t really work out. I managed to get some decent video using my phone.

20180305_215938

It was later identified as Aplysia Juliana.

Aplysia juliana is said to grow to 300 mm in length and is very variable in colour. The parapodia join very high up posteriorly. One very distinctive behavioural feature is that the posterior end of the foot forms a sticky ‘sucker’ which is used in the peculiar ‘looping’ form of crawling that this species exhibits. Rather than the smooth crawling found in most species of Aplysia, in A. juliana the posterior end of the foot forms a broad sucker which attaches to a surface and then the rest of the body stretches forward, the front then attaches and the posterior part is drawn forward. The form of locomotion, the lack of a purple gland and the parapodia joining high in the posterior midline are constant characters of this species.

via Sea Slug forum

There are quite a few colour forms of this species which are at present unable to be separated on anatomical grounds. the brownish form with pale spots is one of the most common forms, as is one with a uniform black colouration.

via Sea Slug Forum

Hoping to find more sea critters over the rest of the year, especially sea slugs. My love for wildlife will be put aside temporarily as I get used to studying at uni again.

20180305_220001

20180305_215933

20180305_215908

20180305_215848

20180305_215549

20180305_215532

20180305_215146Trim

Filed Under: Apollo Bay Tagged With: Apollo Bay Harbour

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Two Varients of Botryllus Schlosseri in Apollo Bay Harbour
  • Pied Cormorant Eating A Fish At Apollo Bay Harbour
  • Australian Fur Seals at Apollo Bay Harbour
  • Injured Seal at Apollo Bay Harbour
  • Queenscliff Banksia

Categories

  • Apollo Bay
  • Barwon River, Geelong
  • Bellarine Peninsula
  • Big Things
  • Brisbane Ranges
  • Chiltern
  • Eastern Beach
  • Geelong And Surrounds
  • Gold Coast
  • Goldfields
  • Great Ocean Road
  • Melbourne
  • My Backyard
  • Other
  • Otways
  • Port Phillip Bay
  • Shipwreck Coast
  • Surf Coast
  • Tasmania
  • The Property
  • Toolangi
  • Uncategorized
  • West Melbourne

Copyright © 2023 · Parallax Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in