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Dolabrifera dolabrifera

Dolabrifera dolabrifera

(Rang, 1828)

Family: Aplysiidae
Order: Aplysiida
Class: Gastropoda
Phylum / Division: Mollusca
Kingdom: Animalia

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Records from Bahía de Caráquez


Description


Dolabrifera dolabrifera, commonly known as the warty seacat, is a species of sea hare, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Aplysiidae, the sea hares. The animal goes by many names, including the common sea hare. The Hawaiian name for Dolabrifera dolabrifera, is Kualakai.

Description & Biology: The seacat is a flat sea hare that grows to about 10 cm long. The maximum recorded length is 108 mm. It is commonly spotty green or brown, but it can also be reddish. The animal´s back half is typically wider and rounded, it narrows towards the head. Warty seacats are soft-bodied gastropods, who have lost a protective shell over time. All species of sea hares have ink glands for chemical defense, though Dolabrifera dolabrifera does not release ink.

Distribution: This species is found in warm tropical and subtropical waters.

Habitat: These animals are majorly preyed on in their habitat. Warty seacats live in shallow-flat pools that contain large boulders, near-shore. Collections of the hares gather underneath rocks in the intertidal zone. At night the warty seacats hide themselves in between cracks found in the boulders. During the day, when the tide rises, the seacats emerge. Due to the varying in color and pattern, it is hard to distinguish them from other species in the habitat. The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0 m; the maximum recorded depth is 3 m.

Source: Wikipedia, article Dolabrifera dolabrifera. Content adapted from Wikipedia, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Accessed on 17/07/2026.





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Foto
Photography ID: 216331
♂ ♀
 
Bahía de Caráquez
Manabí
Ecuador
08/12/2017
Rene Zambrano Roman



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Page 1
Record IDDateExact timeCountryProvince / departmentPlaceFilmedPhotographedRecorded vocalObservedHeardWounded or deadNumber of individualsUser or BibliographyDetail
60710212/08/2017EcuadorManabíBahía de CaráquezRene Zambrano Roman
Page 1

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Recommended citation
Please use the following reference when citing this species account.
EcoRegistros. 2026. Dolabrifera dolabrifera – Species account. Accessed from www.ecoregistros.org on 26/09/2026.