Blue Bottles and Nudibranch washed up at Kiama, NSW

March 24, 2010
From: Cherie Noon

This Nudibranch was found at Kiama, East Van Park, East Beach. It was a windy and rainy day, The beach had washed up Blue bottles every where. I was showing my daughter the blue bottles and we found the Nudibranch on the sand. After taking photos we put it back into the water, hopefully it survived.

Locality: East Beach Kiama, NSW, Australia, South Pacific Ocean/Tasman Sea, Feburary 2009, Sandy Beach. Length: 30mm. Photographer: Cherie Noon.

Cherie Noon

cherienoon@bigpond.com

Noon, C.L., 2010 (Mar 24) Blue Bottles and Nudibranch washed up at Kiama, NSW. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23389

Dear Cherie,

This is Glaucus atlanticus, a nudirbanch which spends its whole live floating upside down on or near the surface feeding on bluebottles. Have a look at the Fact Sheet and attached messages for more information on this species.

A slight word of warning. Glaucus takes the stinging cells out of the bluebottle and stores then in a sac at the tip of each of its long cerata. The stinging cells remain functional and you can get a more painful sting from the nudibranch than the bluebottle. I don't know if kids still have bluebottle fights at the beach, but getting hit by a flying Glaucus can end hostilities very quickly.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Mar 24). Comment on Blue Bottles and Nudibranch washed up at Kiama, NSW by Cherie Noon. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23389

Factsheet

Glaucus atlanticus

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