Anvil Sea Hare

About this species

Dolabella auricularia, also known as the wedge sea hare, is a species of large sea slug, a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dolabella auricularia”, 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: 274 records
February: 182 records
March: 180 records
April: 199 records
May: 207 records
June: 179 records
July: 180 records
August: 152 records
September: 189 records
October: 178 records
November: 175 records
December: 245 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–15 m · Deepest record: 76 m

0–10 m: 62 records
10–20 m: 12 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–30 °C

12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 5 records
20–22 °C: 37 records
22–24 °C: 21 records
24–26 °C: 31 records
26–28 °C: 32 records
28–30 °C: 36 records

Photos

(c) libby hepburn, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jason Alexander, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Meghan Cassidy, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Alesha Teitzel, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Anvil Sea Hare, Blunt-end seahare, Donsol, Shoulderblade sea cat, Wedge sea hare, blunt-end seahare, donsol, shoulderblade sea cat, wedge sea hare

Names in 6 more languages

German: Stumpfenden-Seehase
Spanish: Liebre chata de mar
French: Lièvre de mer à oreille
Japanese: タツナミガイ
Korean: 원뿔군소
Simplified Chinese: 截尾海兔, 龍骨海鹿

Other scientific names: Aplysia ecaudata, Aplysia gigas, Aplysia hasseltii, Aplysia teremidi, Aplysia truncata, Dolabella andersoni, Dolabella callosa, Dolabella cheni, Dolabella ecaudata, Dolabella gigas, Dolabella hasseltii, Dolabella rumphii, Dolabella scapula, Dolabella variegata, Patella auricularia, Patella scapula

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
Blue-spotted sea hare
Bursatella leachii

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).
755 open-data records from 1786 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.