Glaucus atlanticus in Hawaii
January 16, 2007
From: Nichol Miura
We didn't know what it was until we came home and did some research online. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture at this time. We also found a juvenile Portuguese Man-O-War [Physalia] and a Purple Bubble Raft Snail [Janthina ] (though we didn't know until we saw all of the other photos). Thanks for having such a wonderful site.
We had a question. We read that it "can severely sting humans", could you elaborate on that? Thanks again for all of the great information.
Locality: Oahu, near Mokoli'i Island (21* 30'43.00" N, 157* 50'09.00" W), floating with tide, Hawaii, USA, Pacific Ocean, 14 January 2007, Clear warm waters. Length: 1 inch by 1 inch
Nichol Miura
nmiura13@hotmail.com
Miura, N., 2007 (Jan 16) Glaucus atlanticus in Hawaii. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19235Dear Nichol,
Glaucus is a very specialised aeolid nudibranch which spends its life floating upside down in the ocean. If you look at a 'normal' aeolid like Austraeolis ornata , which crawls over rocks, you will see that it has a back covered in tubular processes we call cerata. If you look at the cerata Fact Sheet you will see that at the tip of each ceras is a special sac called the cnidosac where they store stinging cells they get from their food, which is usually a sea anemone or related cnidarian. The aeolid is able to re-use these stinging cells in its own defence. Glaucus does the same, but it has found a method of accumulating the most powerful stings from the Portuguese Man-O-War. I don't know if Hawaiian kids do silly things like throwing Portuguese Man-O-War at each other for fun - but Australian kids do - and a hit from a Glaucus can be much more painful then a hit from a Portuguese Man-O-War - or 'Bluebottle' as they are called down here.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman
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