This is my Blue Dragon Sea Slug, also known as Sea Swallow, Blue Angel, and Blue Glaucus. It can grow as long as 1.2 inches, about the size of a regular paper clip, and eats the Portuguese Man O' War that can get up to 165 feet long, or the length of two female blue whales! A little air bubble in its stomach helps it to float. Some of the Portuguese Man O' War tentacles contain nematocysts, or venom coils, that are dangerous to people. Even unattached tentacles or dead Man O' War still have enough venom to cause intense pain (though it rarely kills). This sea slug takes that venom and concentrates it in its long "fingers". This makes it more deadly than the Man O' War! For more information check out my sources: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/inside-nature-featured-creature-blue-dragon/ https://oceana.org/marine-life/corals-and-other-invertebrates/blue-glaucus
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The Portuguese Man O War looks like our media’s idea of what other worldly beings look like and the scientific words used to describe them sound out of this world. I am no expert on these organisms since I was introduced to them on Blue Planet II but I did have a confusingly fun time learning about them online. Here are some fun facts I found and tried to simplify. Hope you enjoy!
The Portuguese Man O War is a colony of single organisms called zooids. Zooids are so specialized in their jobs that they cannot function alone so they need to cooperate with other zooids to survive. From my understanding, Zooids with similar jobs like all the digestive zooids make up the digestive polyp. These organisms don’t really propel themselves, they just fill a translucent bladder (like a balloon) with gas and float with the waves. In the first close up, you can see this gas filled bladder. A crest on this bladder, it looks like a mohawk on the football shaped balloon, catches the wind and moves them. The tentacles can grow to more than 40 meters, that’s about 131 ft, and some can get longer! A blue whale is around 30 meters, approximately 98 ft, in length. The Portuguese Man O War can get as long as or longer blue whale! Let those words sink in… it's mind blowing! Comparatively, my doodle is probably a young Man O War with such short tentacles. Don't touch these tentacles though. Like I said in last week’s post, these things are venom filled or rather they have cells called nematocysts that are venom coils. Many prey animals they eat such as fish are paralyzed and killed with these neurotoxins. Even dead Portuguese Man O War or severed tentacles from them that wash to the shore can cause welts and allergic reactions in humans because they are still potent. In my second close up, you might see some animals such as the loggerhead sea turtle, violet sea snail with its bubble raft, and the blue sea slug (aka blue dragon) with what look to be long fingers. These are all predators of the Portuguese Man O War. For such potentially deadly creatures, the Portuguese Man O War have very fragile bodies and predators that are mostly immune to those painful tentacles or eat those poisonous nematocysts to use for their own protection have an easy time eating. Want to learn more? Here are some Links: Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr1ps0ooDhU – Blue Planet II- BBC One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTgLTbXJrfM - Portuguese Man-of-War | World's Weirdest Articles https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/p/portuguese-man-of-war/ https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/portuguese-man-o-war.html https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Physalia_physalis/ http://www.siphonophores.org/ https://www.earthhistory.org.uk/corals-and-jellies/siphonophores http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2008/niemi_riss/interactions.htm
What do you think of my Portuguese Man O’ War or about these organisms in general?
Look close and let me know if you see any hidden doodles in my doodle. |
Artist and Blogger
I'm just a doodling artist. My current style started in a lecture class at MCLA where I began doodling in my notebooks. Now I've started a new series focusing on animals. Archives
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