Whirligig Sea Hare

Notarchus indicus

Molluscs
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth3–21 m
Water temperature17–29 °C
Best monthsJanuary, February, and March
How commonRare

All species

Photo credit: (c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 28 records
February: 29 records
March: 23 records
April: 21 records
May: 18 records
June: 14 records
July: 11 records
August: 19 records
September: 20 records
October: 14 records
November: 12 records
December: 12 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–21 m · Deepest record: 27.1 m

0–10 m: 35 records
10–20 m: 30 records
20–30 m: 9 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 17–29 °C

16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 6 records
20–22 °C: 27 records
22–24 °C: 9 records
24–26 °C: 23 records
26–28 °C: 8 records
28–30 °C: 25 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Whirligig Sea Hare, Indian seahare

Names in 1 more languages

Japanese: フウセンウミウシ

Other scientific names: Aplysia gelatinosa, Notarchus ceylonicus, Notarchus cuvieri, Notarchus globulus, Notarchus petaurista

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
Dwarf sea hare
Aplysia parvula

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.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
111 open-data records from 1969 to 2026.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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