Giant Sea Slug

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
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Pat Miller
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Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:36 am

Giant Sea Slug

Postby Pat Miller » Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:12 pm

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.
IMG20200603170124.jpg
IMG20200603170124.jpg (97.61 KiB) Viewed 2956 times
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IMG20200603165427.jpg (36.79 KiB) Viewed 2956 times
IMG20200603165328.jpg
IMG20200603165328.jpg (59.03 KiB) Viewed 2956 times


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.
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Olwen
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:14 am

Re: Giant Sea Slug

Postby Olwen » Sun Jun 07, 2020 7:38 pm

Wow! what a find. Thanks for posting.
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Neil Fitzgerald
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Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 10:20 am
Location: Hamilton, New Zealand
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Re: Giant Sea Slug

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:03 pm

Wow. Not exactly a beauty, but interesting. Be worth putting on inaturalist of you haven't already.
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Nakilad
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Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 10:52 am

Re: Giant Sea Slug

Postby Nakilad » Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:59 pm

That's..... amazing! Thanks for posting!
Vaughan Turner
Birding Remotely
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