The Sea Hare

Aha! It’s a California Sea Hare. The word “hare” is another name for rabbit. This animal has those “rabbit ears” on top of its head, so it is named the California Sea Hare. The front pair of “rabbit ears” are called oral tentacles, or mouth feelers. They help the creature feel its way around the tide pool. The “rabbit ears” sticking straight up are called rhinophores. “Rhino” is Greek for nose and “phore” is Greek for carrier. These rhinophores sense smells in the sea water. There are tiny little eyes on the head, but they can only see the difference between dark and light. Like a giant snail without a shell, the California Sea Hare slowly creeps along the rocks and sand until it finds algae to eat. Sea Hares can be brown, or green, or reddish purple. The color that they become usually depends on the color of the algae that they are eating. Maybe this Sea Hare has been eating a little red algae and a little brown algae. It looks very healthy and measures about 7” long by 5” wide. It doesn’t have that many predators. Predators are mostly interested in eating the eggs that the Sea Hare lays in clumps or masses. If a California Sea Hare is startled by a predator, it can squirt out ink that is the same color as its body. How would this help the Sea Hare escape?


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