Dwarf sea hare

About this species

The dwarf sea hare or pygmy sea hare, Aplysia parvula, is a species of sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aplysiidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dwarf sea hare”, 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: 49 records
February: 49 records
March: 48 records
April: 55 records
May: 43 records
June: 30 records
July: 25 records
August: 27 records
September: 42 records
October: 56 records
November: 56 records
December: 42 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–33 m · Deepest record: 84.5 m

0–10 m: 27 records
10–20 m: 9 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 9–30 °C

8–10 °C: 2 records
10–12 °C: 4 records
12–14 °C: 5 records
14–16 °C: 63 records
16–18 °C: 17 records
18–20 °C: 50 records
20–22 °C: 123 records
22–24 °C: 41 records
24–26 °C: 33 records
26–28 °C: 54 records
28–30 °C: 68 records

Photos

(c) magriet b, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by magriet b · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Jorge I. Merchán Mayorga, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ritirene, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Dwarf sea hare, Small sea hare, dwarf sea hare, Pygmy Seahare, small sea hare, White-spotted Sea Hare

Names in 4 more languages

German: kleiner Seehase
Spanish: liebre de mar pequeña
French: petit lièvre de mer
Japanese: クロヘリアメフラシ

Other scientific names: Aplysia (Pruvotaplysia) parvula, Aplysia australiana, Aplysia spuria, Tethys parvula

Similar species

California seahare
Aplysia californica
Ocellate Sea Hare
Aplysia argus
Large-spotted sea hare
Aplysia dactylomela
Sucker-foot Sea Hare
Aplysia juliana
Aplysia kurodai
Spotted sea hare
Aplysia oculifera

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).
643 open-data records from 1863 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.