The Blue Glaucus

The Blue Glaucus has a unique colouration of a dark and light blue coloured underside, and a silver/grey dorsal side. Their colouring helps them to camouflage into their environment. The sea slug is able to blend into both the sea, when looking down on the creature, and blend into the light colours of the sky from below and float around undetected by predators and prey.

Behaivioural Adaptations

Structural Adaptations

Blue Glaucus only grow up to around 3 cm in length!

Blue Glaucus

Physiological Adaptations

The Blue Glaucus is a hermaphrodite, which means it has both male and female reproductive organs. 3. Having both male and female reproductive organs means that any encounter between two Blue Glaucus’ can lead to fertilization.

Habitat

The Blue Glaucus floats upside down on the waters surface. The creature has an air sac which allows it to float upside down so that it can use its unique colouration to camouflage into its environment from all angles.

Blue Glaucus deposit their eggs on floating objects. After 2 Blue Glaucus have met, and the mating process is underway, the slug will find a floating object like wood or a carcass and lay their eggs there. Even though the eggs are almost immediately abandoned by their parents, they are carefully placed on floating objects on the waters surface to create a safe space for the newborn slugs to develop and get used to surviving in their exposed environment.

While the creature itself is not venomous, it can steal they preys venom and use it as their own when threatened. Being able to use other creatures’ venom to protect itself is a very clever way for the Blue Glaucus to live. The slug feeds on large jellyfish like the Portuguese man o’ war and stores their stinging cells (nematocysts) for when it feels threatened or is catching prey.

The Blue Glaucus use rhinophores to smell where there prey is and to navigate. They use these scent and taste receptors to gage where their prey is from further away giving them more time to attack. They also use these receptors to navigate their environment by responding to the water currents.

The biotic factors within the Blue Glaucus's environment include its prey, mainly the Portuguese man o’ war and other Blue Glaucus. other biotic factors include underwater plants, and other pelagic organisms. The main abiotic factors in the sea slug’s environment are water, air, sunlight, sand, rocks, and floating objects where they tend to lay their eggs.

Dorsal side

Underside

Rhinophores

Venom

This peice of driftwood would be a perfect home for newborn Blue Glaucus.

Reproduction

Reproduction behaiviour

Appearance

Floating upside down

This Blue Glaucus is floating on top of the water upside down!

The Blue Glaucus(Glaucus atlanticus) is a carnivorous stinging sea slug that lives in the pelagic zone(open sea). Its environment has a temperature range of around 2-4 degrees Celsius, although the slug usually lives in temperate waters near the water’s surface. It can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.

Factors

The Blue Glaucus's main prey, the Portuguese man o' war.