7 Interesting Characteristics of Tiny Sea Bunny Slugs

Kikutaro Baba, a famous Japanese marine biologist, is credited with originally describing the charming little sea bunny, which is actually a slug or nudibranch. Sea bunnies have been bouncing around the seas of the Indo-Pacific Ocean for a very long time, long before they became quite the viral video phenomenon in 2015. Viewers need to look very closely to see a sea bunny underwater because they are normally less than an inch long.

#1 Not Fur But Rods

Sea bunnies lack fur, but their backs are covered with clusters of tiny rods called caryophyllidia. The sea bunny's speckled appearance is created by these clustered around tiny black spots. The majority of specialists think that these organs have sensory functions.

#2 Bunny Ears That Detects Scents

These water critters have two tiny "ears" that are actually sensory organs known as rhinophores, giving them the appearance of bunnies. They aid sea bunnies in finding food and prospective mates by assisting them with identifying chemical odors in the water column. Sea bunny rhinophores are exceptionally "fuzzy" in the world of nudibranchs, offering a greater surface area for reception to take place. In spite of how little they are, sea bunnies are capable of sensing scents over remarkably long distances.

#3 Hermaphrodites

According to North American Divers, sea bunnies are hermaphrodites, which means they have reproductive systems of both males and females. They mate by sharing sperm with one another in order to fertilize their eggs. Since both of their offspring are their biological siblings, they are both mothers to their own children and fathers to others.

#4 Toxic Bunny

These adorable little slugs are so nasty that predators avoid them. The toxicity of sea bunnies to humans depends on what the tiny animals eat. The sea bunny slug is a member of the dorid nudibranch family of sea slugs, which are known for stealing poisonous defenses from their prey. They frequently consume stuff that is toxic like sponges, according to the Natural History Museum.

#5 Short Lifespan

A sea bunny slug has a brief lifespan of a few months to a year. Given their brief lifespans and usual solitary lifestyles, mating is not always possible and must be taken full advantage of when it does. In order for them to be able to find one another, their sensory systems must be highly developed.

#6 Eats Other Sea Slugs

Carnivorous marine bunnies enjoy chowing down on other sea slugs as well as sea snails. Additionally, they employ a specialized feeding device known as a radula to scrape algae off ocean surfaces and consume it. However, the majority of a marine bunny's diet consists of poisonous sea sponges. These sea slugs absorb the pigments as well as the toxins for their own protection, and depending on what they consume, they can change their appearance.

#7 Comes Out of Their Shell

The free-swimming sea bunny larva has a shell after hatching, which is a trait shared by all mollusks. It eventually loses this protective coating through a process known as metamorphosis and transforms into a sea slug-like creature. Every nudibranch, whose name literally translates to "naked gills," undergoes an identical change, according to PADI.