Recently a friend brought to my attention that the Internet was losing its collective mind over “sea bunnies”. Googling, “sea bunny” I found articles at International Business Times, Metro, RT, Apex Tribune, Weather Channel (wait what?), The Dodo, HuffPo, Geek, Women’s Day (umm), and The Telegraph.

Well gosh darn it! How to I jump on up on this bandwagon? DSN has been suffering from low clickage lately and we could use some of that sweet, sweet tasting clickbate. So bring on a whole damn field of SEA BUNNIES! Because precious few of these websites actually include any information about the animal, I said to myself “I’m gonna science all over this!” So pull up a chair kiddo’s and prepare yourself for an invertebrate biology braingasm. I’ll provide this as a clever top ten list too so I can be super trendy.

1. The sea bunny is actually a nudribranch, aka a sea slug, called Jorunna parva. They are also quite small, less than one inch in length.
2. Jorunna parva is 1 of 16 species in the genus and the only one that looks like a bunny. Some of the other species are little less…dandy, others very post modernist, and some have gills that look like brown wilted lettuce.

3. 

   The furry looks comes tons of caryophyllidia across the back of their bodies, aka the mantle.   Caryophyllidia are fleshy protuberances, papillae, that bear a crown of pointed spicules used for sensory functions.

4. The dark colored bunny ears are not actually ears but rhinophores. As the “rhino” would suggest these are sensory organs on the head used for chemoreception. In the group of nudibranchs that contains the sea bunnies, the rhinophores are particularly “fuzzy” allowing for more surface area for this reception to occur on.
5. The color pattern is crazy variable in Jorunna parva. Very few individuals are actually white with black patches. Most are dark yellow (like a Peep?). Some individuals can even be dark brown (mmm chocolate bunny) surrounded in a band of dark yellow.

6. 

   The famous Japanese scientist Kikutaro Baba named the species in 1934. Baba was a renowned and prolific malacologist, i.e. a scientist who studies mollusks, who described 116 species and has 14 species and taxa names after him.

7. There is some confusion what nudibranchs are and are not actually Jorunna parva. Mollusk geeks, of which I count myself, are unclear whether the extreme color variation actually represents different species. This could mean the difference between the species being distributed throughout Japanese, Northern Australian, and the Indo-Pacific oceans or isolated to a small area. It is worth noting the white fluffy bunny with the dark ears version of Jorunna parva seems to be primarily off the coast of Japan. (see these posts at the Seaslug Forum)
8. Jorunna parva may show some California love. J. parva bears many striking resemblances to J. pardus off the California coast. Some sea slug experts think they may be one in the same.
9. They are hermaphrodites. Well technically, all nudibranchs are. So mating like bunnies is actually much easier since they don’t have to be so choosy. Any other bunny will do.
10. They are very, very hungry. Recent work in my lab has shown for nudibranchs only exist where there is a lot of food. This may be because being a hermaphrodite is calorically expensive, an individual needs to produce eggs and sperm continuously

The post The Science of Sea Bunnies: You’ll Never Believe The Top Ten List We Created To Get You To Visit Our Website. first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The Baja California Sur environmental group ProPeninsula is engaged in a letter writing campaign to His Excellency Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican asking him to remind Catholics everywhere that sea turtles are not fish.

Because of the common misconception of sea turtles as ‘fish,’ it is estimated that as many as 10,000 endangered green, loggerhead, and olive ridley turtles are taken for feast food each year during Catholic religious holidays. The misguided tradition of eating turtles for Lent is stronger in Mexico that other places, like Brazil for instance.

The fervor for turtle eggs is bolstered by rumours of libido enhancement. The poster at left is part of an environmental campaign by Wildcoast targeting the practice. The series features Argentine supermodelo Dorismar saying “My man doesn’t need turtle eggs.” The Bipolar View features a nice article on the campaign.

Here’s the letter below, forwarded by J. Nichols at the Ocean Conservancy.

Help stop sea turtle consumption during Lent
(en espanol: http://tinyurl.com/2ojduc)

For centuries, sea turtles have been used as feast food throughout Latin America during Catholic celebrations such as Semana Santa. During Easter or the Lenten season, traditional Catholic rules prohibit the consumption of ‘meat’, yet allow food such as ‘fish’ and other types of seafood to be eaten as a substitute…
Although sea turtles do live in the sea, they are actually reptiles related to tortoises, lizards, and even dinosaurs; they are not fish, invertebrates, or crustaceans, and do have ‘red’ meat. This spring, we are raising awareness about the threats sea turtles face, and encouraging people to abstain from consuming sea turtle meat, particularly during the lenten season and holy week.

We are asking for your help in this effort. Send a letter to the Vatican today. If key religious figures, and hopefully the Pope himself, become more informed of the great damage being done to sea turtle populations during Lent and Easter, they may be motivated to use their power and influence to help save these endangered creatures. If you would like to help us in our cause, please click on the link below to send a letter to the Vatican. (http://tinyurl.com/36tzpj)

Because of the common misconception of sea turtles as ‘fish,’ it is estimated that as many as 10,000 endangered green, loggerhead, and olive ridley turtles are taken for feast food each year during Catholic religious holidays. Other species, such as leatherbacks, are also at risk as their eggs are poached in massive quantities throughout Latin America.

Sea turtles have been swimming the ocean for millions of years, but are now facing a real threat of extinction. Currently, all seven species of sea turtles are either endangered or critically endangered, and for some populations there are so few that their status is simply unknown. These species are slow growing and long lived, thus making populations extremely vulnerable to massive declines. For sea turtles, each and every individual makes a difference for the future of the entire species. They are the indicators of our ocean’s health and we depend upon the ocean for our own existence. Thus, if these ancient species vanish during our lifetime, our future is likely just as bleak.

For a report with background information on this issue visit: http://tinyurl.com/hub3e

Thank you for your support.

The post Sea turtle advocates appeal to the Vatican first appeared on Deep Sea News.