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Some California sea hares will appear more brown, which helps them blend into their surroundings. [11] A. californica resembles the food on which it grazes, and cannot be distinguished easily from the seaweed unless the animal is moving. [8] When the sea hares eat algae, they consume toxins, which they store in themselves to repel predators. [11]
Their color corresponds with the color of the seaweed they eat: red sea hares have been feeding on red seaweed. This camouflages them from predators. When disturbed, a sea hare can release ink from its ink glands, providing a fluid, smoke-like toxic screen, adversely affecting its predators' olfactory senses while acting as a powerful deterrent.
Aplysia vaccaria, also known as the black sea hare and California black sea hare, is a species of extremely large sea slug, a marine, opisthobranch, gastropod mollusk in the family Aplysiidae. [1] It is the largest sea slug species.
Aplysiidae is the only family in the superfamily Aplysioidea, within the clade Anaspidea. [1] These animals are commonly called sea hares because, unlike most sea slugs, they are often quite large, and when they are underwater, their rounded body shape and the long rhinophores on their heads mean that their overall shape resembles that of a sitting rabbit or hare.
Aplysia californica displaying phagomimicry in response to predator threat.. Phagomimicry is a defensive behaviour of sea hares, in which the animal ejects a mixture of chemicals, which mimic food, and overwhelm the senses of their predator, giving the sea hare a chance to escape.
The “rarely seen” predators were spotted off the California coast near San Diego. Boaters witness ‘unbelievable spectacle’ when predators attack sea creature. See it
When the sea hare feels threatened it immediately begins the process of defending itself by mixing the distinct molecules in an additional part of the body used specifically for that purpose. At which point, enzymes within the sea slug begin the process of making the substance toxic, and the mixture is ejected out at the predator in self-defense.
In California, some experts say they worry about the vulnerability of sea lions and sea otters. "California has been spared some of the huge die-off events being seen somewhere else in the world.