Hi Folks,
I found this giant sea slug on Uretiti Beach yesterday washed up amongst seaweed. From what I've looked up online, it appears to be a species called Aplysia extraordinaria and has been found in NZ before at the Kermadecs and Great Barrier Island and is the largest sea slug found in NZ.
My foot is 28 cm long, so by measuring the animal in the photo, I got a length of 39.2 cm, so not far away from the 40cm quoted online.
The flaps on the sides are called parapodia and apparently used by the animal to swim.
Giant Sea Slug
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Re: Giant Sea Slug
Wow! what a find. Thanks for posting.
- Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: Giant Sea Slug
Wow. Not exactly a beauty, but interesting. Be worth putting on inaturalist of you haven't already.
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