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.Bouchet, P. (2010). Dolabrifera dolabrifera (Rang, 1828). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=224652 on 31 March 2012 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.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". PLoS ONE 5(1): e8776. .
References
Keen M. (1971). Sea shells of Tropical West America. Marine mollusks from Baja California to Perú. (2nd edit.). Stanford University Press pp. 1064: Bebbington A. (1977) Aplysiid species from Eastern Australia with notes on the Pacific Ocean Aplysiomorpha (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia). Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 34: 87-147. Rolán E., 2005. Malacological Fauna From The Cape Verde Archipelago. Part 1, Polyplacophora and Gastropoda. Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.
Further reading Powell A. W. B., New Zealand Mollusca, William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1979