Sea Bunnies: The Spongy ‘Peeps’ of the Seafloor

You may remember nudibranchs (NYOO-deh-branks), or “sea slugs,” from the California Academy of Sciences video we posted a while back. These shell-less, gender-less mollusks come in all shapes and colors, and there are over 3,000 known species (with more being added to the list all the time); one is making a huge splash (ahem) in social media circles

The species, Jorunna parva, has been redubbed “sea bunnies,” and here's why:

These little sea slugs (measuring only about 2 cm in length) have somehow adapted the same adorable appearance as the fluffiest of bunnies — and it's functional, too!


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The stems protruding from a sea bunny's back that resemble ears and a tail are actually sensory organs called rhinophores, which nudibrachs use to evaluate chemical changes in the water around them.