Photo by Peter Southwood	Shaggy sea hare Bursatella leachi While the shaggy sea hare occurs from Langebaan to beyond Sodwana, it is not often seen in Cape Town. It is common in estuaries and tidal pools, and forms dense breeding aggregations. In Knysna lagoon, at Thesen's Jetty, Guido has indeed seen such aggregations, with numerous individuals slowly moving over a dull sandy bottom. It is a large nudibranch, reaching 10 cm at least. The photo by Peter shows a relatively un-shaggy specimen - they can get much shaggier than that, although that is more common in Natal specimens! This one was photographed at Long Beach.
References: Nudibranchs of Southern Africa - a guide to the opisthobranch molluscs of southern Africa, T Gosliner, 1987. Two Oceans, a guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.
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