Sea hare (Aplysia sp.)
The bunny has long been associated with Easter, but how about the sea hare?
Look out for dark blobs of slime that sometimes wash up on local beaches during late summer and throughout autumn. These unusual creatures are actually sea hares - a type of mollusc, closely related to sea slugs or 'nudibranchs'.
But be careful… when threatened, these slug-like animals may excrete a toxic purple ink that can irritate the eyes and can even kill a dog if eaten.
Sea hares get their name from the two fleshy tentacles that protrude from their head, which (with a bit of imagination) resemble hare's ears.
Grazing on algae, their black/brown colour (although some species have a dark mottled green pattern) acts as perfect camouflage, as they slowly crawl over the seabed.
Gathering in late summer, sea hares form a long chain to reproduce. As 'hermaphrodites', they can act as a male for the animal in front and a female for the animal behind at the same time! They then deposit long strings of up to 180 million eggs on the sea floor.
Sea hares only live for about a year - they die after laying their eggs.
