Down the rabbit hole

No - I've not been to see the new Alice in Wonderland. However, when I first saw this creature in Sedgefield's Swartvlei lagoon, I thought I must have fallen down a rabbit hole. I'd never seen anything like it before.Doing a bit of research, it turns out that this is a Shaggy Sea Hare (Bursatella leachi) and is a fairly rare creature. Oddly though, there were hundreds of them in the river mouth. It would appear that their distribution pattern is shifting south, because they were first glimpsed in Plett in 2007, and this was their first appearance in Sedgies that my in-laws could remember.

They're fascinating little creatures - to me at least. They're about 10cm long, green, with black spots (you can't really see the spots unless you get up good and close) and these pink tassels. They filter out algae from sand and have an internal shell. They are thus very soft to the touch, and slightly slimy. I discovered afterwards that they usually release a purple or black ink when disturbed, so I guess I must have been pretty gentle with them. Some of them (not this species though) release sulphuric acid when disturbed! That's a definite "DO NOT DISTURB" sign, if you know what to look for.