Nature
PUBLISHED
When you think of sea slugs, you might think of pretty colors and vibrant frills. But not this bad boy.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.On the Youtube show Brave Wilderness, Coyote Peterson headed down to some coastal tide pools near Los Angeles with tide pool expert Aron Sanchez to root around for the world’s largest slug, the California black sea hare (Aplysia vaccaria).
Initially only finding crab after crab, they eventually strumbled across one. Coyote estimates this individual was around 60 centimeters (2 feet) long and weighed a whopping 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds), although they can reportedly grow to weigh up to 13.5 kilograms (30 pounds).
These sea-dwelling mollusks can usually be found off the coast of California and Baja, Mexico. Fortunately, they're pretty harmless since they can’t bite, are herbivores, and aren’t toxic. As Aron explains in the video, these creatures also have an internal shell, made of protein, which holds all their organs as it slimes around.
Check it out below.
