A slimy, unfamiliar-looking sea creature has been spotted lurking on popular beaches.
Sea hares have left many people amazed with their particular shape due to having an inner shell and slug-like tentacles.
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Recently, people have seen sea hares on the coasts of southwest Florida, which is not their usual haunt.
Sea hares generally stay in shallow grassy areas of the bay.
“It looks like a cross between a jellyfish and a shell creature,” beachgoer Ronnie Sullivan told NBC affiliate WBBH on Wednesday.
The sea hare spotted the confused beachgoers, who questioned what kind of sea creature they saw.
“I’ve never seen one early in the morning,” Sullivan said.
“Is it like a stingray because it has wings?”
Jose H. Leal, scientific director and curator of the Bailey-Matthews National Seashell Museum on Sanibel, explained that sea hares migrate during mating season, according to WBBH.
This is why people see sea hares more often.
TOXIC PAINT
Sea hares can also release toxic and harmful paint when they come into contact with other animals.
Leal warned pet owners to keep their animals away from sea hares.
What is a sea hare?
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Park Service define a Sea Hare as follows:
- Common names for Aplysia Fasciata include Sooty Sea Hare, Sea Slug, Sooty Inkfish, and Sea Lawn Mower.
- The term “sea hare” originates from the Latin “Lepes Marinus”, referring to the creature’s tentacle-like structures, which resemble rabbit ears.
- Sea hares belong to the class Gastropoda within the phylum Mollusca, which makes them closely related to snails and sea slugs.
- Sea hares do not have an outer shell and only an inner shell made of protein.
- Despite their name, sea hares use their tentacles to smell, not hear, and they do not have ears.
- Sea hares secrete a toxin in their skin and ink to deter predators, making them potentially harmful if ingested by pets.
- Although harmless to humans, sea hares must be handled with care to avoid contact with their toxic secretions.
- Sea hares are often found stranded on beaches during low tide and can be gently returned to the water to ensure their survival.
- Their color is influenced by the algae they consume, with local varieties such as the Sooty Sea Hare having brownish-green tones.
- Sea hares produce a bright purple dye with a potent blocking agent, deterring predators by impairing their sense of smell.
- Natural predators of sea hares include anemones, crabs, lobsters and starfish.
- Pollution and toxic algal blooms pose increasing threats to their survival.
“If they are disturbed, they can release themselves like purple paint, which keeps predators away,” Leal told WBBH.
“It is a toxic substance for other animals.
“If you are walking on the beach with your dog, you shouldn’t let him get close.”
UNIQUE BODIES
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute said one of its biologists spotted a sea hare in the wild this time of year in 2019.
On a Facebook publishexplained that sea hares got their name from the two tentacles on their head “that resemble a hare’s ears.”
The institute described the unique features of sea hares, including “two fleshy flaps” through which they breathe.
The fleshy flaps reach across their backs and create currents that force water through their gills.
Sea hares also eat plants and consume their food through their suction cup-shaped mouths.
They have three stomachs and two of them include teeth for grinding plants.
The color they acquire depends on the color of the algae they eat.
Sea hares have female and male organs.
But it is necessary to mate to reproduce and up to 500 million eggs can be laid during the breeding season.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
