Bursatella leachii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Euopisthobranchia clade Aplysiomorpha |
Superfamily: | Aplysioidea |
Family: | Aplysiidae |
Genus: | Bursatella Blainville, 1817 |
Species: | B. leachii |
Binomial name | |
Bursatella leachii Blainville, 1817 |
Bursatella leachii, common name the ragged sea hare or shaggy sea hare, is a species of large sea slug or sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares.
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This is a circumtropical sea hare, the only species in its genus. It occurs in the intertidal zone and down to at least 10 m[1] on coastal areas of the Indo-West Pacific oceans, the Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Bursatella leachii is green to greenish brown. It has a broad and short head. Its mantle is covered with papillae (finger-like outgrowths), which give it a thorny aspect. The mantle has a network-like pattern with blue eyespots (ocelli) in black spots and green areas. It moves slowly on a broad foot. There is short, sharp tail. The short parapodia (fleshy, winglike outgrowths) are fused on their rear end.
The length is up to 15 cm but usually between 5 and 10 cm.
The maximum recorded length is 120 mm.[2]
The species is usually found in estuaries and tidal pools, and more rarely on sandy bottoms.
Minimum recorded depth is 0 m.[2] Maximum recorded depth is 7 m.[2]
It may be found in dense concentrations or singly. It is herbivorous. The species lays egg ribbons in long green stringy tangles.[3]
Three subspecies have been described: