Critter identification request

[Bill Parker]

I would describe it as a 6" wide sessile animal shaped
like a pouch. I took this photo in the PCB area a few
days ago. Does anyone have any idea what it is?

 

[paulwall]

I submit that is a Cowrie of some sort, with its mantle wrapped around its shell....Not this species, but the same family :
Chestnut Cowrie, Date Cowrie Photo, Stock Photograph of a Chestnut Cowrie, Date Cowrie, Cypraea spadicea, #14020, Phillip Colla Natural History Photography

 

[Hetland]

Spotted Sea Hare

 

[paulwall]

Holy egregiously long links, Batman!

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

I didn't realize that Sea Hares were split like that. Cool!

 

[Dave C]

The picture is fuzzy but I agree that it appears to be a sea hare. It's more curled up than usual which makes it look sort-of like a cowry with a mantle extending over the shell. A 6-inch sea hare would not be an unusual size, but a 6-inch cowry would be huge. Plus, sea hares are sometimes found around the jetties, but I have not seen nor heard of cowries being there.

 

[Hetland]

I've seen cowries there, but I suspect collectors snatch them up frequently, or I'd see more.

Cowrie mantles have hundreds of small "fingers", which make them easier to distinguish from sea hares, though it often takes me a few minutes underwater to remember this.

I actually saw a swimming sea hare once, about 4ft off the bottom in Navarre Beach. It was one of the stranger sites I've encountered underwater.

 

[4dawgma]

Fuzzy clam

 

[DocCarl]

+1 on the sea hare. Back in early April there were more on the St. Andrews jetties than I'd ever seen anywhere else, combined. The one in your photos is contracted and curled up. Here's a few other pictures from the jetties in April.

 

[fuller43]

I'm also going with sea hare. I saw about 5 of them in the Jetties while I was there in early June.

 

[Bill Parker]

Thanks for the responses. I did take this photo at the Jetties.