SOLITARY ISLANDS
UNDERWATER
RESEARCH GROUP, INC.

Aplysia argus
(Ruppell and Leuckart, 1830)

Distribution: Common throughout the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Found around the tropical coastline of Australia south to Albany Western Australia and Westernport in Victoria, and including Tasmania.

Ecological Notes: Frequents seagrass flats, reefs and sandy areas, to 20 m depth. Commonly seen in coastal areas including rocky shelves and intertidal pools, rarely entering estuaries.

Additional Notes: Pale, yellowy brown with large black rings scattered across the body and parapodia, tail tip often black. Discharges reddish-purple fluid if handled or inadvertently trod on. The most common of the larger sea hares, it grows to 250 mm length.

References: Robert Burn, 2015. Museum Victoria Field Guides: Nudibranchs and related molluscs. Museum Victoria, Melbourne. p.104.

Gary Cobb, David Mullins, Nudibranchs Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition, 2015. Publishers Thomas Slone, Masalai Press and Tim Hochgrebe, Underwater Australasia. p.49.

Matt J. Nimbs, Stephen D.A. Smith, An Illustrated Inventory of the Sea Slugs of New South Wales, Australia (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia). The Royal Society of Victoria, 128, 44-113, 2016 10.1071/RS16011. CSIRO Publishing. p.49.