looking for pic's-stages of a sea hare life cycle.

icyuod2 · 05/31/2006, 01:55 PM

i had a sea hare lay eggs in my aquarium approx 6 weeks back.

i was told none would survive, but i believe some have.
upon hatching my aquarium was swarming with tiny dots swimming in the water (too small to see with the naked eye/ size of the sharp end of a pin)

just recently in the slowest part of my sump, i've had alot of free swimming "blobs" (for lack of a better word) show up on the waters surface. (visible with the naked eye) they swim fast, in a circular motion.

these critters are approx the size of a copepod egg sack. pure white, round blob with a tiny red/brown dot on the rear of the critter.

i tried to take pics using my camera zoom on full and a x4 eyepiece
sorry about the pic's but these things are so small its hard to hold the camera/eye piece/ and critter perfectly still.
the first image (although out of focus) show the shape of the critters. the rest are blurry due to movement, but if you look close you'll see the red/brown color near the rear of the critter in question.

my eyes pick up the detail better than the camera, so i was hoping to find pic's of the stages of the life cycle. i keep searching but to no avail.

can anybody id these critters to be something other than sea hare larvae.

they are free swimming and stay in groups near the surface of the water. i might also add, my isopods love to eat them.

thanks.

icyuod2 · 05/31/2006, 02:38 PM

for those of you interested...
http://www.seaslugforum.net/factshee...base=aplyocdev

guess i need a microscope....only time will tell. although they do resemble the larvae after 1 day of metamorphis. plenty of ulva, so we'll see what happens.

05/31/2006, 01:55 PM	#1
icyuod2 Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 142	looking for pic's-stages of a sea hare life cycle. i had a sea hare lay eggs in my aquarium approx 6 weeks back. i was told none would survive, but i believe some have. upon hatching my aquarium was swarming with tiny dots swimming in the water (too small to see with the naked eye/ size of the sharp end of a pin) just recently in the slowest part of my sump, i've had alot of free swimming "blobs" (for lack of a better word) show up on the waters surface. (visible with the naked eye) they swim fast, in a circular motion. these critters are approx the size of a copepod egg sack. pure white, round blob with a tiny red/brown dot on the rear of the critter. i tried to take pics using my camera zoom on full and a x4 eyepiece sorry about the pic's but these things are so small its hard to hold the camera/eye piece/ and critter perfectly still. the first image (although out of focus) show the shape of the critters. the rest are blurry due to movement, but if you look close you'll see the red/brown color near the rear of the critter in question. my eyes pick up the detail better than the camera, so i was hoping to find pic's of the stages of the life cycle. i keep searching but to no avail. can anybody id these critters to be something other than sea hare larvae. they are free swimming and stay in groups near the surface of the water. i might also add, my isopods love to eat them. thanks.

05/31/2006, 02:38 PM	#2
icyuod2 Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 142	for those of you interested... http://www.seaslugforum.net/factshee...base=aplyocdev guess i need a microscope....only time will tell. although they do resemble the larvae after 1 day of metamorphis. plenty of ulva, so we'll see what happens.