Glaucus atlanticus find in Northern NSW Australia

January 20, 2010
From: Matthew Ross


Just before Christmas last year we had onshore winds blowing all day and it was overcast. So we decided to go for a walk down the beach with the kids.
My Wife, as always, had her camera on hand and took photo's of these beautiful creatures that had washed up with the Velella Vellela, blue bottles and small jellyfish.

When we placed the Glaucus in the water upside down they would slowly flip themselves over. When they were on the sand they were compact and closed in as if trying to keep warm. It was amazing to watch them open up every time we put them in the water.

We have many more photo's if you wish to see more.

Locality: Minnie Waters main beach North end near headland. East of Grafton, on shore, NSW Australia, Pacific, 21 December 2009, sandy beach onshore winds. Length: 10mm to 20mm. Photographer: Fiona Ross.

Matthew Ross

mattyross46@hotmail.com

Ross, M.V., 2010 (Jan 20) Glaucus atlanticus find in Northern NSW Australia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23104

Dear Matt,

As your wife's lower photo shows these blue animals look quite tragic when they are washed up limp on the sand, but as the upper photo shows they are spectacularly beautiful web floating in their natural position. As you will read on the Fact Sheet, Glaucus is an aeolid nudibranch, and aeolids are normally found crawling along on hard surfaces. Glaucus and its close relative Glaucilla marginata, are quite different in the way they float upside down in the open ocean. In the upper photo we can see it floating upside down, its foot attached to the surface film. The second photo shows the 'back' of a washed up animal. From these two photos you can see the back of the animal is silver while the underside has dark blue stripes. As the animal floats upside down it means the siver side faces down into the water while the dark blue side faces up. A similar colour pattern is found in pelagic fish and is a way of hiding from predators - from underneath the hide from fish by merging with the silvery white of the sky, and from the sky the hide from sea birds by looking like the deep blue sea.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2010 (Jan 20). Comment on Glaucus atlanticus find in Northern NSW Australia by Matthew Ross. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/23104

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Glaucus atlanticus

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