海鹿科（學名：）是海鹿總科（學名：，又名海兔超科）之下唯一的一個科。與其牠海蛞蝓相比，海鹿的體型相比較大。牠們的頭小，有著又長又圓的身體，還有長長的一對。這些物種都是一些沒有螺殻的「海螺」，一般「海鹿」會用來叫體型相對大很多的物種，而體型較小的會叫作「海兔」，但也有文獻不論大小都稱呼為「海兔」。在這些物種當中，以加州黑海兔（Aplysia vaccaria）的體型最大，也是所有腹足綱物種中體型最大的一種，經常在內容農場的「海怪」文章提及。 型態描述 Members of the Aplysiidae have an atrophied inner shell in contrast with the nudibranchs which have no shell at all In Aplysia and Syphonota this shell is a soft flattened plate over the visceral rear end where it is fully or partially enclosed in the mantle skin In Dolabella auricularia the shell is earshaped The shell is only present in the larval stage of the two genera Bursatella and Stylocheilus and on this basis they have been grouped into the subfamily Dolabriferinae They are rather large animals Their length can reach up to 75 cm Aplysia vaccaria and they can weigh well over 2 kg They are cosmopolitan and found in temperate and tropical seas inhabiting shallow coastal areas and sheltered bays thick with vegetation The Aplysiidae are herbivorous eating a variety of red green or brown algae and eelgrass Their color is dietderived from the pigments of the algae They concentrate the toxins found on algae Defenses Some species spout ink when disturbed or attacked and they may also swim rather than crawl away using their broad winglike flaps or parapodia The ink is extracted from their algal food rather than being synthesizedZsilavecz G 2007 Nudibranchs of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay Sea hares have two main secretory glands in their mantle cavity purple gland lying on top of the mantle cavity above the gill It gives off a red or purple fluid or in some species a white ink opaline gland situated on the floor of the mantle cavity beneath the gill It gives off a white opaque secretion The genus Aplysia has proved useful as a model in neurobiology for the study of electrical synapses which mediate the release of the clouds of inkKandel E R Schwartz J H Jessell T M 2000 Principles of Neural Science 4th ed New York McGrawHill 180 pp Mating habits Sea hares are hermaphrodites with fully functional male and female reproductive organs The penis is on the right side of the head while the vagina is situated in the mantle cavity beneath the shell deep down between the parapodia It is therefore physically impossible for mating partners to act as both male and female at the same time They have unusual mating habits they can mate in pairs with one acting as a male the other as a female but they commonly occur in quite crowded numbers during the mating season and this often leads to chains of three or more sea hares mating together The one at the front acts as a female and the one at the back as a male The animal s in between are acting as both males and females in other words the animal receiving sperm passes its own sperm to a third sea hare 捕食者 海鹿科的捕食者包括有海蜘蛛、隆頭魚科物種及海龜。 分類學 2004 年的一份研究文獻顯示海鹿科是一個單系群，由兩個支序組成： Aplysiinae Dolabellinae Dolabriferinae Notarchinae The authority of this family is still somewhat in dispute The family was incorrectly originally spelled as Laplysiana This was a Latinized form of the original common name les Laplysiens as described in Philosophie zoologique 1320 by Lamarck in 1809 Rafinesque introduced the new name Laplysinia in 1815 In 2001 Bouchet Rocroi advocated the attribution of the name Aplysiidae to Lamarck 亞科 根據 N B Eales 1984，海鹿科物種可再細分為下列四個亞科： 海鹿亞科 Aplysiinae Lamarck 1809 黃花瓣螺亞科 Dolabellinae Pilsbry 1895 Dolabriferinae Pilsbry 1895 Notarchinae Mazzarelli 1893 屬 海兔屬 Aplysia ：模式屬 Barnardaclesia Eales Engel 1935 Bursatella Blainville 1817 the only one species Bursatella leachii Blainville 1817 黃花瓣螺屬 Dolabella Dolabrifera Gray 1847 Floribella Woodring 1970 Notarchus Cuvier 1817 Paraplysia Pilsbry 1895 Petalifera Gray 1847 Phyllaplysia Fischer 1872 Stylocheilus Gould 1852 Syphonota H Adams A Adams 1854 the only one species Syphonota geographica A Adams Reeve 1850 異名： Aclesia Rang 1828 synonym of Bursatella Blainville 1817 Aplysiella P Fischer 1872 synonym of Petalifera Gray 1847 Busiris Risso 1826 synonym of Notarchus Cuvier 1816 Laplysia Linnaeus 1767 synonym of Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 Neaplysia J G Cooper 1863 synonym of Aplysia Neaplysia J G Cooper 1863 represented as Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 Phycophila A Adams 1861 synonym of Aplysia Phycophila A Adams 1861 represented as Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 Pruvotaplysia Engel 1936 synonym of Aplysia Pruvotaplysia Engel 1936 represented as Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 Ramosaclesia Iredale 1929 synonym of Bursatella Blainville 1817 Siphonotus A Adams Reeve 1850 synonym of Syphonota H Adams A Adams 1854 Tullia PruvotFol 1933 synonym of Aplysia Tullia PruvotFol 1933 represented as Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 Varria Eales 1960 synonym of Aplysia Varria Eales 1960 represented as Aplysia Linnaeus 1767 部分物種 參考文獻 延伸閱讀 Kandel ER 1979 Behavioural Biology of Aplysia San Francisco WHFreeman Co 463pp Costello MJ Emblow C White R Ed 2001 European register of marine species a checklist of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification Collection Patrimoines Naturels 50 Muséum national dHistoire Naturelle Paris France 463 pp 外部連結 httpwwwseaslugforumnet Vue Z Kamel B S Capo T R Bardales A T Medina M 2014 Comparative analysis of early ontogeny in Bursatella leachii and Aplysia californica PeerJ 2 e700 Category 讓 巴蒂斯特拉馬克命名的生物分類