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Blue Angel

Glaucus atlanticus Forster 1777

Description

provided by World Register of Marine Species
A distinctive, truly pelagic silvery blue mollusc, up to 6 cm long, with three pairs of arms. Floats upside-down just under the sea surface, feeding on the colonial hydroids Physalia, Porpita and Velella. Habitat: offshore. Distribution: pantropical. N.B. must be handled with care as it can give an extremely painful sting, due to the nematocysts taken from the prey species Physalia, which itself gives a nasty sting.
license
cc-by-4.0
copyright
WoRMS Editorial Board
bibliographic citation
Richmond, M. (Ed.) (1997). A guide to the seashores of Eastern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean islands. Sida/Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC: Stockholm, Sweden. ISBN 91-630-4594-X. 448 pp.
contributor
Edward Vanden Berghe [email]