Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 161, May 2018, pp. 1-11. | Page 3

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Aplysia is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs, specifically sea hares,
which are one clade of large sea slugs, marine gastropod mollusks (Wikipedia).
These benthic herbivorous creatures can become rather large compared with most other
mollusks. They graze in tidal and subtidal zones of tropical waters, mostly in the Indo-
Pacific Ocean (23 species); but they can also be found in the Atlantic Ocean (12 species),
with a few species occurring in the Mediterranean (Wikipedia).
‫خلٌج‬ ، ‫البدٌة‬ ‫بحر‬ ‫من‬ ) 7391 ، ‫بابا‬ ‫كوروداي‬ ‫أبلٌسٌا‬ ( ‫كورودا‬ ‫البحر‬ )‫(لُواع‬ ‫أرنب‬ ‫البحر‬ ‫لبُزاق‬ ‫األول‬ ‫التسجٌل‬ ‫هو‬ ‫هذا‬
01..4.0.71 ... ‫خلف‬ ‫عُال‬ ‫الكابتن‬ ‫الغواصٌن‬ ‫دربة‬ ‫م‬ ُ ‫عدسة‬ ... ‫أمتار‬ 4 ‫عُمك‬ ‫على‬ ‫من‬ ‫عُمان‬
This is the first record of the Kuroda’s Sea Hare (Aplysia kurodai Baba, 1937) from the Bidyah
Sea, Gulf of Oman. Photo by Ola Khalaf in the Bidyah Lagoon, 4 meters deep; body length
around 8 cm. 28.04.2017.
http://marine-life-uae-2.webs.com/aplysia-kurodai
Aplysia species, when threatened, frequently release clouds of ink, it is believed in order
to blind the attacker (though they are in fact considered edible by relatively few
species). Following the lead of Eric R. Kandel, the genus has been studied as a model
organism by neurobiologists, because its gill and siphon withdrawal reflex, as studied
in Aplysia californica, is mediated by electrical synapses, which allow several neurons to
fire synchronously. This quick neural response is necessary for a speedy reaction to
danger by the animal. Aplysia has only about 20,000 neurons, making it a favorite
subject for investigation by neuroscientists. Also, the 'tongue' on the underside is
controlled by only two neurons, which allowed complete mapping of the innervation
network to be carried out (Wikipedia).
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 161 – May 2018