what the???

[Mambo Dave]

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

Well, I'm not a biologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night... :devil_3:

Thanks all, I think you found it.

Oops, did we forget the location? Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I would say it is definitely from the Aplysioidea family, like the Aplysia Morio found on Pompano Beach as in the http://seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=aplymori link (this was the next beach south of Pompano Beach, in fact, where the link's specimen was taken), but that describes the Aplysia as being totallly black, which this was not. While almost black, I would almost guess it faded to purple before becoming white-ish in the spots it is white. And it seems to have the blue-ish underbelly.

If it inks, perhaps it inked right before we found it, and that's why parts of it appear whitish? That would also explain the slight purplish look in the near-white areas if it had a purplish ink.

In retrospect, I didn't get inked by the same luck that the fully mature Stargazer didn't knock me out the dive before... bjpell, diving with you is getting Dangerous!

Iceman: You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe. I don't like you because you're dangerous.
Maverick: That's right! Ice... man. I am dangerous.

Now you've got me curious - Just what does the hidden shell look like?

Awesome

bjpell, that video clip was very cool! (save for the part that got me thrown in jail on molestation charges...)

 

[bjpell]

I have here one more video of it trucking along but for some reason it won't upload.

It seems a ton larger then the pictures that LeslieH posted. This was by no means a small handful, and the head looked kinda like a hippo's head in the first photograph. The beautiful blue and whites are missing from the link photo. The black was such a dark pure black it was difficult to photograph.

I would have done some color adjustment to the video but my Adobe Premier will not support this type of video. Any out there willing to do it for me??? Or tell me a way to add the needed yellow and red.

Thanks for all who have tried to id this sucker, but I still think that we haven’t found the exact species that we encountered. Might be the right family, but possibly still not the right critter....

-=ben

 

[LeslieH]

Did you look at all the links posted under Aplysia morio on the Sea Slug Forum? You can view them all at once by clicking on the command at the bottom of the page: "show factsheet & all related messages". The othe big species in Florida is Aplysia brasiliana. Take a look at the SSF page - do these pics match better? http://seaslugforum.net/showall.cfm?base=aplybras

 

[bjpell]

Yes, the picture dated March 21 2001 from debby is a lot closer to the color. That must be what it was. It was surly black and white with blue lines in the middle as per my picture. Thanks again LeslieH.

-=ben