At first I thought it was an octopus trying to burrow when I spotted a dark brown lump from a distance. As I get closer, I saw purple ink flowing out from the burrow and I knew that it was not a octopus but a sea hare. Sea hare will release purple ink when disturbed.
Knowing it is a sea hare doesn't solve the mystery! Why do the sea hare release purple ink when it is about to burrow? Why do the sea hare want to leave behind the clue about their where about?
It is actually attacked by the hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio). The sea hare is actually not willing to burrow but the hairy crab is the one that is trying to pull the sea hare into its burrow!
I touch the burrow lightly and the crab immediately let go of the sea hare. This sea hare is probably too big for the crab or too big to squeeze into the crab burrow. Once the grip from the crab is gone, the sea hare immediately flap its wings and swim off and more purple ink is released!
The purple ink stop once the safety of the sea hare is secured! Well this sea hare just survive an attack from the hairy pincer! This beautiful sea hare have a very nice name - Extraordinary sea hare (Aplysia extraordinaria) and they are herbivorous which means they feed on plants (sea grass). They are usually found among sea grasses and this is probably my 1st time seeing it attacked by its predator. I'm not sure other than hairy crab, what else feed on this beautiful sea hare.
Hi Manta,
ReplyDeleteThis is Ava. I had a question to ask you about your blog and was wondering if you could shoot me a quick e-mail so I could write back to you and explain. I don't want to ask it here because it's sort of long and I can't find your e-mail here anywhere. My e-mail is Charismaqueen100@gmail.com
Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!