what the???

[bjpell]

What the...

Any ideas on what this cute little feller is?

Ok, here is the video of my dive buddy molesting it. I hope the vid works its the first I have tried to put online.
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/56149/cat/1815

 

[Jcsgt]

How big is it?

 

[bjpell]

About the size of a... half gallon??? does that help?

 

[bjpell]

I have a video of it too, just don't know how to put video on here.

 

[Jcsgt]

Man, I admit I have no clue!

 

[bjpell]

Thanks Anyway Jcsgt!!

 

[Mambo Dave]

Glad you put it up for identification!

I guess it could be described as a BIG snail. Where it's shell would be was, instead, folded up 'wings' that flapped about in the cross-currents. It was not graceful.

The top picture shows the underside of its head, with its antennae. I guess that's my 5mm glove around it, very gently stabilizing it to get a good shot.

It was a floppy, seemingly invetebrate creature, so the half-gallon size sounds about right.

The wings, when spread open, revealed a hump on its back of the same color the 'thing' is. Its wings did not seem to aid it very much in propulsion (not like a ray's). The wings seemed to stay tucked in more than spread out despite it working very hard to get anywhere (that, or it was struggling in the throes of death, which I hoped it wasn't)

Overall length, I'd say, was 10 to 12 inches, but that's in its natural state. I didn't try to stretch it out to measure the real length.

I never saw the blue-ish underside, was that visible under the water from your angle bjpell?

Best,

GD

 

[MarkH]

Looks like a seahare-type (like the ones in California) nudibrach. The colour seems different though. The flailing around is how they swim when they are disturbed (like a spanish dancer). We have lots of big nudibranchs that size up here in British Columbia and they act the same way.

 

[archman]

Yeah, I believe Swank's on the right track. That looks like a sea hare, and the (quite detailed) text descriptors seem to match up. Anaspids (sea hares) have a pair of "wings" dorsally, and that "hump" hides a thin but pretty large internal shell.

I'm surprised it didn't ink all over you when you grabbed it. I thought all sea hares like to do that.

Leslie or Bill will chime in soon and conclusively verify. I suck at Pacific coast stuff.

 

[LeslieH]

Hey, stop poking that slug! Only biologists get to do that!

Where is it from? If it's west coast & central California south then it would be Aplysia vaccaria. See http://slugsite.us/bow/nudwk215.htm From Florida then Aplysia morio, see http://seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=aplymori