''Dolabella auricularia'', also known as the wedge sea hare, is a species of large sea slug, a marine

opisthobranch Opisthobranchs () is a now informal name for a large and diverse group of specialized complex gastropods which used to be united in the subclass Opisthobranchia. That taxon is no longer considered to represent a monophyletic grouping. Euopistho ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family

Aplysiidae Aplysiidae is the only family in the superfamily Aplysioidea, within the clade Anaspidea. 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 sha ...

, the sea hares.

Description

''Dolabella auricularia'' is a rather large species which can reach a length of . It can be recognized by a flattened disk on the posterior surface of the animal. This species can be found with soft pustules, leading to a rather knob-like appearance. It has a short, blunt head. Its body is covered with tubercles and skin flaps. The

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

, internal shell has a typical ear-like form. Like all sea hares, it ejects a purple ink when disturbed.

Distribution

''Dolabella auricularia'' can be found in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and the western and NW

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. It is also present in the Philippines.

Habitat

This sea hare lives in areas that are sheltered from rough currents. They will often hide in

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

, sand and mud, feeding on algae. Intertidal rock pools are also a favoured place to live.

Human uses

In coastal areas in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

islands in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, long strands of eggs of ''Dolabella auricularia'' (locally known as ''donsol'' or ''dongsul'' in the

Visayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Mo ...

) are traditionally eaten. The egg strands are known as ''lokot'' or ''lukot'' and are harvested from shallow rocks and

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s. They resemble twisted noodles (''

pancit Pancit ( ), also spelled pansit, is a general term referring to various traditional noodle dishes in Filipino cuisine. There are numerous types of pancit, often named based on the noodles used, method of cooking, place of origin or the ingredi ...

'') in appearance and texture, hence why they are also called ''pansit-pansitan'' ("mock noodles") in some areas. They are usually green, but can be reddish to yellowish in color. They are often mistaken for

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

and have a taste described as salty and sweet. They are usually eaten raw with vinegar and spices as ''

kinilaw ''Kinilaw'' ( or , literally "eaten raw") is a raw seafood dish and preparation method native to the Philippines. It is more accurately a cooking process that relies on vinegar and acidic fruit juices (usually citrus) to denature the ingredi ...

'', sauteed like '' pancit guisado'', or added to soups like fish ''

tinola Tinola is a Filipino soup usually served as a main course with white rice. Traditionally, the dish is cooked with chicken or fish, wedges of papaya and/or chayote, and leaves of the siling labuyo chili pepper in broth flavored with ginger, o ...

''. ''Dolabella auricularia'' is sometimes used by the keepers of large marine aquaria to limit algal growth in the tank. The anti-cancer agent

monomethyl auristatin E Monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) is a synthetic antineoplastic agent. Because of its toxicity, it cannot be used as a drug itself; instead, it is linked to a monoclonal antibody (MAB) which directs it to the cancer cells. In International Nonpropri ...

is derived from peptides found in ''D. auricularia''. In Samoa it is called Gau (pronounced gnau). It is a favorite food for old people, cooked with coconut cream. Its innards are eaten raw. Its eggs are called ape and also eaten.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolabella Auricularia Aplysiidae Gastropods described in 1786