Blue-spotted sea hare

Bursatella leachii

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–10 m
Water temperature16–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary, March, and April
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Marlo Perdicas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Bursatella leachii, whose common name is the ragged sea hare or shaggy sea hare, is a species of large sea slug: a marine gastropod mollusk in the sea hare family Aplysiidae. It has an almost pantropical distribution, from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, but excluding the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Its long planktonic larval period and short life cycle make able to colonise new areas and increase dramatically in number if food supplies are favourable.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Bursatella leachii”, 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: 222 records
February: 148 records
March: 163 records
April: 185 records
May: 143 records
June: 126 records
July: 128 records
August: 118 records
September: 161 records
October: 138 records
November: 127 records
December: 150 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–10 m · Deepest record: 61 m

0–10 m: 82 records
10–20 m: 8 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–30 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 3 records
18–20 °C: 25 records
20–22 °C: 21 records
22–24 °C: 13 records
24–26 °C: 28 records
26–28 °C: 11 records
28–30 °C: 24 records

Photos

(c) Nic Charlton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) libby hepburn, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Srichakra Pranav Tamarapalli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Carman Chew, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Corinne Benavides, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Auradyme, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Blue-spotted sea hare, Hairy sea hare, Ragged sea hare, Shaggy sea hare, Tropical Shaggy Sea Hare, blue-spotted sea hare, hairy sea hare, ragged sea hare, Ragged Seahare, shaggy sea hare

Names in 2 more languages

German: Blaupunkt-Seehase, Fädriger Seehase
Korean: 가시군소

Other scientific names: Aclesia freeri, Aclesia glauca, Aclesia intrapicta, Aclesia rosea, Aplysia bursatella, Aplysia cirrhifera, Aplysia pleii, Barnardaclesia cirrhifera, Bursatella lacinulata, Bursatella leachi, Bursatella savigniana, Notarchus (Bursatella) leachii, Notarchus brevipes, Notarchus cirrhifera, Notarchus cirrosus, Notarchus intrapictus, Notarchus laciniatus, Notarchus leachii, Notarchus pleii, Notarchus savignyanus, Notarchus villosus, Ramosaclesia rex

Similar species

Ocellate Sea Hare
Aplysia argus
Large-spotted sea hare
Aplysia dactylomela
Sucker-foot Sea Hare
Aplysia juliana
Aplysia kurodai
Dwarf sea hare
Aplysia parvula
Anvil Sea Hare
Dolabella auricularia

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).
476 open-data records from 1817 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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