Found some interesting sea slugs in Florida

January 31, 2005
From: Sarah McDowell

Hi, this pat weekend, my roommate and I were in Pompano Beach, Florida, and she collected these sea slugs off the beach. Apparently the tide had washed them up, and she thought they would die there on the sand. Can anyone tell me what species these little guys are? They're really interesting looking, and I've never seen anything like them on the beach before. Thanks!

Locality: Pompano Beach, Florida, USA.
Length: >1 inch. 29 January 2005. Sand
Photographer: Sarah McDowell

Sarah McDowell

smcdowell5@bellsouth.net

McDowell, S., 2005 (Jan 31) Found some interesting sea slugs in Florida. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13068

Dear Sarah,
The blue ones are Glaucus atlanticus, which spend their life floating on the surface of the ocean until washed ashore by onshore winds. Have a look at the species Fact Sheet for interesting information about this species and its close relative Glaucilla marginata. The brown object in the bottom of your container is either a bit of brown algae or the very cryptic nudibranch, Scyllaea pelagica, which as its name suggests, is also a pelagic species. In this case rather than floating in the water, its lives on floating Sargassum weed, which also gets blown ashore. Again, have a look at the species Fact Sheet and the other messages on the Forum concerning this species
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2005 (Jan 31). Comment on Found some interesting sea slugs in Florida by Sarah McDowell. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13068

Factsheet

Glaucus atlanticus

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