Glaucus in Sydney

March 12, 2003
From: Alex and Marcus Dawes

Dear Bill,
We found this 'floating' in shallow water at Clovelly [Sydney, NSW, Australia] beach today .... We think it is a nudibranch of some kind but would be grateful if you can identify it from this (awful) photograph,,,

...It is 3 cm long and has silver and dark blue stripes (white underneath) ... Has 6 feathery limbs ... small head with horns or
antennae .... Looks poisonous!!

Our aunt saw something very similar at Pearl Beach on the Central Coast today .... Maybe it's an invasion?!
Thanks and Regards
Alex (10) & Marcus (8) Dawes

dawes26@tpg.com.au

Dawes, A. & M., 2003 (Mar 12) Glaucus in Sydney. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9389

Dear Alex and Marcus,
This is indeed a nudibranch called Glaucus atlanticus. If you look at the species Fact Sheet you will see its spends its life floating upside down at the water surface, bouyed up by a bubble of gas in its stomach. It feeds mainly on Blue Bottles [Physalia] and takes the most powerful of their stinging cells [nematocysts] and stores them at the tips of the 'feathery limbs' which are called cerata. You can sometimes get a worse sting from Glaucus than from a Blue Bottle. Have a look at the other messages on this page and the various links to other pages for more information on these fascinating animals.

Glaucus floats around in the ocean with 'fleets' of Blue Bottles. Like Blue Bottles they usually only wash up on beaches after a few days of steady onshore winds which blow them onshore. So its not surprising to find them washing up on a section of the coast between Sydney and the Central Coast when weather conditions have been the same
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2003 (Mar 12). Comment on Glaucus in Sydney by Alex and Marcus Dawes . [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/9389

Factsheet

Glaucus atlanticus

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