Sea hare spectacle
SANIBEL SEA SCHOOL
The Sanibel Sea School reported that sea hares may have recently spawned on Sanibel’s east end. During the first week of summer camp, staff and attendees found hundreds of tiny sea hares in the San Carlos Bay — some smaller than a pinky fingernail. Sea hares are gastropod mollusks and are very similar to their shelled snail counterparts, but actually lack an external shell, officials reported. Without the shell acting as body armor, in order to avoid predation, sea hares exude a bright purple ink to confuse predators. Sea hares lay their eggs in long sticky strings that look like green spaghetti, which will hatch into free swimming larvae.