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Phyllaplysia taylori Dall, 1900
Eelgrass Sea Hare; Taylor's Sea Hare; Zebra Sea Hare
Family: Aplysiidae
Introduction to the Gastropods of BC

Photograph

© thomas carefoot     (Photo ID #14996)

Map

E-Fauna BC Static Map

Distribution of Phyllaplysia taylori in British Columbia in British Columbia

Introduction


The Zebra Sea Hare is a marine gastropod found in the NE Pacific Ocean, from British Columbia south to San Diego, California (Wikipedia 2011). In BC, it is found north to Vancouver Island. It is usually bright green in colour with prominent white stripes bordered in black (Sea Slug Forum 2011), and a dorsally flattened body (Wikpedia 2011). It grazes exclusively on Zostera marina (common eelgrass), where it feeds on diatoms and other small organisms. "Distribution of Phyllaplysia" is proximally related to the distribution of its host plant, but ultimately related to other factors, such as temperature, other water conditions, etc." (Carefoot 2011). In addition, density of the Zebra Sea Hare is positively correlated with density of the eelgrass (Williamson 2006).

Phyllaplysia has several notable features adaptive to life crawling on eelgrass blades. The first is a broad radula with shovel-shaped cusps for scraping up diatom growth on the surface of the blades. Diatoms are encased in a protective covering made of silicon oxide (glass) and are extremely tough. The diatoms pass through sieving-type jaws into a gizzard-like stomach lined with chitinous teeth that grind the diatoms to a paste. The glass particles are defecated. Another feature different from their close sea-hare relatives Aplysia californica and A. vaccaria in California, is that no free-living larvae are produced. Rather, the embryos hatch directly to crawling juveniles that immediately take up a adult crawling way of life on eelgrass blades. At first the youngsters subsist on a nutritious yolk-blobs provided by their parent, but within a few days are busy crunching through diatoms just like the adults. Adults appear to be well camouflaged on eelgrass blades.

Learn more about this group on A Snail's Odyssey:

Read about feeding in this species.
Learn about the life cycle of this species (scroll down to "Phyllaplysia").
Read about camouflage in this species.

Note Author Tom Carefoot, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia

Status Information

Origin StatusProvincial StatusBC List
(Red Blue List)		COSEWIC
UnlistedUnlistedUnlistedUnlisted



BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer--the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Additional Notes

Read about research on the Zebra Sea Hare on A Snail's Odyssey. Scroll down to view the research summaries.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Phyllaplysia zostericola McCauley, 1960

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Ocean Biogeographic Information System Distribution Map

Species References

Carefoot, Thomas. 2011. Personal communication. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia.

Williamson, Kathleen Janice. 2006. Relationships between eelgrass (Zostera marina) habitat characteristics and juvenile Dungeness Crab (Cancer magister) and other invertebrates in southern Humboldt Bay, California, USA. Master's Thesis. Humboldt State University. Available online.

General References

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