Mollusk Spotlight: Sea Swallow

From fish to mollusk! That seems like a fair transition. The sea swallow is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen. It has a lot of nice names for it too such as blue angel, blue dragon, blue sea slug, and blue ocean slug. It  more commonly is referred to by its scientific name of glaucus atlanticus, which, in its own right, is very pretty sounding. Let's have a look at this little sea creature.

A sea swallow measures about 1.3 inches in length. It is mostly a vibrant blue with black and gray stripes across it's back. It's body is flat and tapering with six appendages which branch out into rayed, finger-like tendrils called cerata. For the purpose of feeding, the sea swallow has a tongue-like organ called a tadula which bears serrated teeth. They can be found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean.

The sea swallow swims by filling a gas pouch in its stomach allowing it to float on the surface of the water. It does this on its back and just sort of kicks around all lazy-like. Humans can do something similar to this, and I find it rather amusing to see the sea swallow swim by this method.

This creature generally feeds on small water animals like snails, but what makes it particularly famous is its ability to take on the dreaded Portuguese Man o' War jelly fish. This is fairly impressive considering the Portuguese Man o' War is known for killing anything it touches due to its extremely potent venom. Despite its size, the sea swallow will completely devour the massive jelly fish and store the creature's venom within its cerata--unbelievably for its own use!

Yes, the sea swallow can redirect the venom gained from the Portuguese Man o' War when it attacks other creatures. Its sting is just as bad too. No, you do not want to be stung by this creature. It will not only be extremely painful, but you will likely cease up.

There is absolutely no fiction out there of the sea swallow--at least none that is obvious. I think the clearest thing about this creature is its beauty. It is a gorgeous and somewhat mystifying creature. The way its colors and patterns are arranged on its body it really art. I can almost see a spaceship designed after its form. As far as personality, I see it as being a lazy swimmer with a personal vanity for its ability to kill. It really is quite capable at destroying things. He must know how pretty he is as well, and that certainly won't help him being any more modest. What do you think? Sea creatures are sometimes difficult to anthropomorphize.

Anyways, I want you to gaze a bit at these pictures I have. These guys are built to please the eye. I rarely see blue presented so vibrantly in an animal. Just goes to show you that some animals out there are also works of art.

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