Large-spotted sea hare

Aplysia dactylomela

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth1–11 m
Water temperature14–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary, March, and July
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Antônio Neto, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Aplysia dactylomela, the spotted sea hare, is a species of large sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Aplysia dactylomela”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 340 records
February: 284 records
March: 306 records
April: 285 records
May: 248 records
June: 285 records
July: 335 records
August: 245 records
September: 224 records
October: 167 records
November: 139 records
December: 251 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–11 m · Deepest record: 425.5 m

0–10 m: 15 records
10–20 m: 13 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–30 °C

12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 3 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 14 records
22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 10 records
26–28 °C: 18 records
28–30 °C: 11 records

Photos

(c) Julien Tchilinguirian, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lennart Hudel, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Large-spotted sea hare, large-spotted sea hare, Spotted Seahare, Spotted Sea Hare

Names in 2 more languages

German: Flügel-Seehase, Geringelter Seehase, Großfleckiger Seehase
Japanese: ジャノメアメフラシ

Other scientific names: Aplysia (Varria) dactylomela, Aplysia aequorea, Aplysia megaptera, Aplysia ocellata, Aplysia protea, Aplysia schrammii, Tethys panamensis

Similar species

Ocellate Sea Hare
Aplysia argus
Sucker-foot Sea Hare
Aplysia juliana
Aplysia kurodai
Dwarf sea hare
Aplysia parvula
Black-edged Sea Hare
Aplysia nigrocincta
Reticulated sea hare
Aplysia reticulata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
536 open-data records from 1883 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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