Glaucus atlanticus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Glaucus atlanticus
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Glaucus atlanticus Forster, 1777 |
Glaucus atlanticus is a nudibranch of the family Glaucidae, the only member of the genus Glaucus. It is 4cm long. The slug is distributed throughout the world's oceans in temperate and tropical waters. G. atlanticus preys on the Portuguese Man o' War, Physalia physalis, Velella velella, the Blue Button, Porpita porpita, and the violet snail, Janthina janthina.
With the aid of a gas-filled sac that is located in its stomach, G. atlanticus is able to stay afloat at the surface. Due to the location of the gas sac the blue sea slug actually floats upside down. The dorsal surface, actually the foot and underside, is either a blue or blue-white coloration. The true dorsal surface is completely silver-grey. This coloration is an example of counter-shading, which helps protect G. atlanticus from predators from both below and above.
G. atlanticus is able to feed on P. physalis due to its immunity to the venomous nematocysts. The blue sea slug will consume the entire organism. After consumption it will select the most venomous nematocysts and use them as a defense.
[edit] References
- Video of the Glaucus Atlanticus.
- Sea Slug Forum
- Wikispecies
We recorded the pulse rate of a feeding Glaucus Atlanticus at 112 BPM.
