The Blue Glaucus
Have you ever been in the ocean, only traveling by current? Probably not but a Blue Glaucus (Glaucus Atlanticus) has. The Blue Glaucus is an incredible creature and quite strange as well. With its blue tentacle arms and weird caterpillar-like body some may say its not from this planet. But trust me you will learn many things about the Blue Glaucus such as its appearance, life cycle and habitat.
Like I said the Blue Glaucus looks quite strange. Would you like to see one of these bigger than a shark? Good thing you won’t have to because Blue Glaucus is rarely bigger than 3 centimeters, wow that's small. Blue Glaucus are neither male nor female so no one can tell the difference. Most Blue Glaucus have 6 limbs.
The Blue Glaucus lives in temperate and tropical waters. Specifically though, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The Blue Glaucus stores an air bubble in its stomach to stay afloat while drifting in oceans. The Blue Glaucus also has counter shading. It has a blue bottom and a blue and gray top. So you may be wondering why it has a gray top because the ocean top isn’t gray, well the Blue Glaucus lays on its back when it’s drifted around so when birds are above they only see the blue ocean, and fish below only see the dark sea above. The Blue Glaucus does not have any predators because it feast’s the Portuguese Man Of War stinging cells so it can push it out of its body in later time.
The Blue Glaucus lives in temperate and tropical waters. Specifically though, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The Blue Glaucus stores an air bubble in its stomach to stay afloat while drifting in oceans. The Blue Glaucus also has counter shading. It has a blue bottom and a blue and gray top. So you may be wondering why it has a gray top because the ocean top isn’t gray, well the Blue Glaucus lays on its back when it’s drifted around so when birds are above they only see the blue ocean, and fish below only see the dark sea above. The Blue Glaucus does not have any predators because it feast’s the Portuguese Man Of War stinging cells so it can push it out of its body in later time.
After learning about it you might want the Blue Glaucus to live forever. But sadly Blue Glaucus only live about a year. When it’s time for reproduction since Blue Glaucus are neither male or female both can lay eggs. The eggs usually float around or stick to nearby surfaces. The Blue Glaucus does not hunt and like I said stings when threatened. The Blue Glaucus is also known as the Blue Dragon, Sea Swallow, and Blue Angel
Now that you know about the wonders of the Blue Glaucus you can say you’ve learned about the strangest animal on the planet. Now you can imagine being a Blue Glaucus in the ocean. This could only be the beginning though because there is still much of the ocean to be discovered. Blue Glaucus are endangered from ocean acidification and could be extinct soon. I hope you learned something and thank you for listening.
Websites: http://oceana.org/
http://eol.org/
Article: http://oceana.org/marine-life/corals-and-other-invertebrates/blue-glaucus
Book:None
http://eol.org/
Article: http://oceana.org/marine-life/corals-and-other-invertebrates/blue-glaucus
Book:None