#gymnosomata

[samimarkart]

sea angel

[diana-andraste]

Gymnosomata Monochrome, Larsen Sotelo, 2023

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

have sea angels been done yet? i love them very much, they're my favorite animal!!

I have not! They always remind me of ratfish and vice versa.

Have you seen a sea angel (Suborder: Gymnosomata)?

I have now

Yes, in photos/videos

Yes, irl

I'm not sure

Voting ended onApr 4

[pissedofforca]

Sea Angels 😇

[spuddragon]

He's an angel. A sea angel...dragon

[mushroomemoji444]

Sea Angel

[traveling-with-joxter]

The different stages of a hungry Sea Angel, scientific name: Gymnosomata.

[feralhogsoutside]

Sea angels are a type of mollusk that has no shell, giving it the name Gymnosmata (Naked Body in greek) They’re tiny lil sea slugs that only really get up to 7 centimeters in length!! Sea angels are actually born with shells but lose them as they mature into adults. So basically as they age they shed their shell!! They are related to sea butterflies but they don’t act very familial as Sea Angels eat them!!!! Sea angels are carnivores and feed mainly on sea butterfly’s. Sea butterflies don’t lose their shells when they mature so the way Sea Angels feed on them is super freaky. Sea angels have a tentacle like part that’s called a Buccal Cone and they scoop the sea butterfly out of its shell after they capture it. They’re also transparent and you can see their inner workings.

Also Sea angels are hermaphrodites meaning the can switch between sexes. More specifically protandrous hermaphrodites meaning the start out male and then turn female over the course of their lives. During mating two sea angels come together and just stay there for hours fertilizing each other, and after fertilization the sea angel releases eggs out. 

Sea angels are speculated to have originated 130 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, meaning they’ve survived mass extinction events and global warming so far. Although global warming accuse ocean acidification and sea angels and sea butterflies shells are built of calcium carbonite, which is eaten away by acid and made brittle and thin, so climate change can cause difficulties forming shells and become a threat.