Aplysia californica
J.G.Cooper, 1863 · speciesAt a glance
Sources12 archives
Databases and archives Aplysia californica's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility33 752 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System29 037 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI128 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics23 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The California sea hare (Aplysia californica) is a species of sea slug in the sea hare family, Aplysiidae.Rosenberg, G.; Bouchet, P. (2011). Aplysia californica J. G. Cooper, 1863. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=240765 on 2012-03-31 It is found in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California in the United States and northwestern Mexico.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction3
Habitat & environment2
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Aplysia californica across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds30 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| (-)-Phaseic acid | present | NPASS | |
| (1E,3R,4S,5E,7S)-1,4,8-tribromo-3,7-dichloro-3,7-dimethylocta-1,5-diene | present | LOTUS | |
| (1R,1'S,2'S,5R,6S)-2',3-dibromo-1'-chloro-1',4,4,6-tetramethylspiro[7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]hept-2-ene-5,4'-cyclohexane] | present | LOTUS | |
| (2E,4E,7R,8R)-8-hydroxy-2,7-dimethyldeca-2,4-dienedioic acid | present | NPASS | |
| (2Z,4E)-5-[(3R,4R)-4-hydroxy-5,5-dimethyl-7-oxo-1-oxaspiro[2.5]octan-4-yl]-3-methylpenta-2,4-dienoic acid | present | NPASS | |
| (3S,8R,9R,10R,13R,14R,17R)-17-[(2R,5R)-5-ethyl-6-methylheptan-2-yl]-10,13-dimethyl-2,3,4,7,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-dodecahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-ol | present | NPASS | |
| (R)-Octopamine | present | LOTUS | |
| 3-Furoic acid | present | NPASS | |
| Gibberellin A1 | present | NPASS | |
| Gibberellin A17 | present | NPASS |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aplysia californica has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Aplysia californica carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type62 789 records
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions8 of 19 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles, US | 66 |
| CASlocation not on record | 59 |
| Santa Barbara Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 28 |
| Washington, US | 12 |
| Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record | 4 |
| Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record | 3 |
| Philadelphia, US | 3 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Cambridge, US | 2 |
| Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record | 1 |
| Puerto Ayora, EC | 1 |
| National Biodiversity Institute, Costa Ricalocation not on record | 1 |
| Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Surlocation not on record | 1 |
| Paleontological Research Institutionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Brussels, BE | 1 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 1 |
| Denver, US | 1 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 1 |
| New Haven, US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Aplysia californica was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Measured at samplingin-field
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.