diff --git a/src/arg_desc.jl b/src/arg_desc.jl
index b4503c1e..4efbf1af 100644
--- a/src/arg_desc.jl
+++ b/src/arg_desc.jl
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ const _arg_desc = KW(
 :z                 	=> "Various. Input data. Third Dimension. May be wrapped by a `Surface` for surface and heatmap types.",
 :marker_z          	=> "AbstractVector, Function `f(x,y,z) -> z_value`, or nothing. z-values for each series data point, which correspond to the color to be used from a markercolor gradient.",
 :line_z          	=> "AbstractVector, Function `f(x,y,z) -> z_value`, or nothing. z-values for each series line segment, which correspond to the color to be used from a linecolor gradient.  Note that for N points, only the first N-1 values are used (one per line-segment).",
+:fill_z           => "Matrix{Float64} of the same size as z matrix, which specifies the color of the 3D surface; the default value is `nothing`.",
 :levels            	=> "Integer, NTuple{2,Integer}. Number of levels (or x-levels/y-levels) for a contour type.",
 :orientation       	=> "Symbol.  Horizontal or vertical orientation for bar types.  Values `:h`, `:hor`, `:horizontal` correspond to horizontal (sideways, anchored to y-axis), and `:v`, `:vert`, and `:vertical` correspond to vertical (the default).",
 :bar_position      	=> "Symbol.  Choose from `:overlay` (default), `:stack`.  (warning: May not be implemented fully)",
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 119dd125..8f82fec0 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -188,6 +188,7 @@ const _series_defaults = KW(
     :z                 => nothing,   # depth for contour, surface, etc
     :marker_z          => nothing,   # value for color scale
     :line_z            => nothing,
+    :fill_z            => nothing,
     :levels            => 15,
     :orientation       => :vertical,
     :bar_position      => :overlay,  # for bar plots and histograms: could also be stack (stack up) or dodge (side by side)
@@ -431,6 +432,7 @@ add_aliases(:zguide, :zlabel, :zlab, :zl)
 add_aliases(:zlims, :zlim, :zlimit, :zlimits)
 add_aliases(:zticks, :ztick)
 add_aliases(:zrotation, :zrot, :zr)
+add_aliases(:fill_z, :fillz, :fz, :surfacecolor, :surfacecolour, :sc, :surfcolor, :surfcolour)
 add_aliases(:legend, :leg, :key)
 add_aliases(:colorbar, :cb, :cbar, :colorkey)
 add_aliases(:clims, :clim, :cbarlims, :cbar_lims, :climits, :color_limits)
diff --git a/src/backends/plotly.jl b/src/backends/plotly.jl
index a70ddf60..bbdd29b9 100644
--- a/src/backends/plotly.jl
+++ b/src/backends/plotly.jl
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ const _plotly_attr = merge_with_base_supported([
     :guide, :lims, :ticks, :scale, :flip, :rotation,
     :tickfont, :guidefont, :legendfont,
     :grid, :legend, :colorbar,
-    :marker_z, :levels,
+    :marker_z, :fill_z, :levels,
     :ribbon, :quiver,
     :orientation,
     # :overwrite_figure,
@@ -371,6 +371,7 @@ end
 plotly_colorscale(c, α) = plotly_colorscale(cgrad(alpha=α), α)
 # plotly_colorscale(c, alpha = nothing) = plotly_colorscale(cgrad(), alpha)
 
+
 const _plotly_markers = KW(
     :rect       => "square",
     :xcross     => "x",
@@ -488,6 +489,9 @@ function plotly_series(plt::Plot, series::Series)
             d_out[:contours] = KW(:x => wirelines, :y => wirelines, :z => wirelines)
         else
             d_out[:colorscale] = plotly_colorscale(series[:fillcolor], series[:fillalpha])
+            if series[:fill_z] != nothing
+                d_out[:surfacecolor] = plotly_surface_data(series, series[:fill_z])
+            end
         end
 
     elseif st == :pie
diff --git a/src/series.jl b/src/series.jl
index 02e9eca2..81307677 100644
--- a/src/series.jl
+++ b/src/series.jl
@@ -257,12 +257,23 @@ end
 # # 1 argument
 # # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+# helper function to ensure relevant attributes are wrapped by Surface
+function wrap_surfaces(d::KW)
+    if haskey(d, :fill_z)
+        v = d[:fill_z]
+        if !isa(v, Surface)
+            d[:fill_z] = Surface(v)
+        end
+    end
+end
+
 @recipe f(n::Integer) = is3d(get(d,:seriestype,:path)) ? (SliceIt, n, n, n) : (SliceIt, n, n, nothing)
 
 # return a surface if this is a 3d plot, otherwise let it be sliced up
 @recipe function f{T<:Union{Integer,AbstractFloat}}(mat::AMat{T})
     if all3D(d)
         n,m = size(mat)
+        wrap_surfaces(d)
         SliceIt, 1:m, 1:n, Surface(mat)
     else
         SliceIt, nothing, mat, nothing
@@ -274,6 +285,7 @@ end
     if all3D(d)
         mat = fmt.data
         n,m = size(mat)
+        wrap_surfaces(d)
         SliceIt, 1:m, 1:n, Formatted(Surface(mat), fmt.formatter)
     else
         SliceIt, nothing, fmt, nothing
@@ -400,6 +412,7 @@ end
 @recipe function f(x::AVec, y::AVec, zf::Function)
     # x = X <: Number ? sort(x) : x
     # y = Y <: Number ? sort(y) : y
+    wrap_surfaces(d)
     SliceIt, x, y, Surface(zf, x, y)  # TODO: replace with SurfaceFunction when supported
 end
 
@@ -410,6 +423,7 @@ end
     if !like_surface(get(d, :seriestype, :none))
         d[:seriestype] = :contour
     end
+    wrap_surfaces(d)
     SliceIt, x, y, Surface(z)
 end