General Information

COMMON NAMES: Blue Sea-Lizard, Blue Seaslug, Sea Lizard, Sea Dragon GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE circumtropical COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, pelagic SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous - an irritant KEY FEATURES: To 30mm. An narrow elongate body with 3 winglike projections, the largest near the head. The winglike structures have a thick stem which supports several long thin tentacles (=cerata). The body and wing-stems are silvery, while the uppermost surface (the ventral side) of the body and wing-tentacles are dark blue. [Several pelagic surface animals are blue or violet, presumably as camouflage.]

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Glaucus atlanticus Forster, 1777
SYNONYMS: Glaucus longicirrus; Glaucus marina; Glaucus lineatus

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; MOLLUSCA; GASTROPODA; OPISTHOBRANCHIA; Nudibranchia; Aeolidacea; GLAUCIDAE

GENERAL NOTE: This seaslug is widely described as one of the most beautiful of all sea creatures. It actually creeps along on the underside of the surface-film of the ocean, such that its ventral side is uppermost, and is dark blue for camouflage. It feeds on various floating coelenterates, such as the By-the-wind-sailor (Velella) - its favourite food, Portuguese Men-o'-War (Physalia), and Porpita. They are sometimes washed ashore after storms. The gut has extensions (=cnidosacs) to the end of the cerata in which they accumulate the unexploded stinging-cells (=nematocysts) of their prey. They use these for their own defence.

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: Muri, 6/98, 3 live specimens, ID GMcC.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

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