Invertebrates
Sea Bunny
Jorunna parva · also called sea bunnies
Covered in soft, fur-like projections and topped with two rabbit-ear-shaped sensory organs, a sea bunny glides across a sponge-covered reef, one of the most photographed sea slugs on Earth for its uncanny resemblance to a tiny rabbit.
Overview
The sea bunny, Jorunna parva, is a small nudibranch found in shallow coastal waters across the Indo-Pacific region. Its plush, fur-like body texture, rabbit-ear-shaped rhinophores, and cotton-tail-like gill tuft make it one of the most visually distinctive and widely shared sea slugs found anywhere in the ocean.
An accidental resemblance
Every feature that makes the sea bunny look like a tiny rabbit, its textured body, ear-shaped sensory organs, and fluffy tail, actually serves an entirely different biological purpose, a case of a creature’s functional anatomy happening to produce a strikingly familiar silhouette.
Status
Not Evaluated for conservation status, though found across a wide range of Indo-Pacific coastal waters with no particular cause for concern currently identified.
Sea Bunny: common questions
Why is the sea bunny called that?
Its body is covered in soft, fur-like projections and topped with two rabbit-ear-shaped sensory organs called rhinophores, combined with a fluffy tuft of gills near the rear that resembles a cotton tail, together giving it an uncanny resemblance to a tiny rabbit.
What do the sea bunny's "ears" actually do?
The rabbit-ear-shaped structures on its head are rhinophores, sensory organs used to detect chemical cues in the surrounding water, helping the sea bunny locate food and navigate its environment rather than serving any hearing function.
What does the sea bunny eat?
It is a carnivore that feeds mainly on sponges, using its radula to scrape and consume sponge tissue.
Where is the sea bunny found?
It is native to shallow coastal waters across a wide stretch of the Indo-Pacific region.