Aplysia oculifera

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Aplysiida
Family: Aplysiidae
Genus: Aplysia
Species: Aplysia oculifera

Aplysia oculifera, known as the spotted or ocellated sea hare, is a sea hare in the family Aplysiidae found across the Indo-Pacific. Sea hares are not nudibranchs; they belong to their own group, the Aplysiida, and carry a small internal shell.

Its name means "eye-bearing", after the ring-shaped spots on its body. Like other sea hares it has two ear-like rhinophores on the head, which give the group its common name.

Sea hares graze on algae, and many can release ink when disturbed.

In the Philippines it is usually found on shallow sand, rubble and algae. Watch where you put your fins in the shallows, and shoot from the side to show the head and rhinophores.

The book spells the name "occulifera"; the accepted spelling is oculifera.

It appears on page 296 of Nudibranchs of the Philippines.

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