#sea swallow

[best-bug-tourney]

Best Bug Tourney Round 4 Poll 13

which is the best bug?

Anomalocaris

Blue sea dragon / sea swallow (Glaucus atlanticus)

Voting ended onJun 15

Anomalocaris propaganda:

Not an actual insect/bug but bug like in spirit. fossil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anomalocaris_canadensis_(TMP_2023.003.0003),_Royal_Tyrrell_Museum,_Drumheller,_Alberta,_2025-07-13.jpg

It does it's best :]

Blue sea dragon / sea swallow propaganda:

They feed on portugese man o wars (and simelar things) which makes them also venomous. (You said non insects are fine, if the vibe fits, and something about their elegant 'long fingered' ways remainds me of insects, so I hope they will count)

[critter-creature-or-beast]

This is a...

critter

creature

beast

Voting ended onOct 17, 2024

By Sylke Rohrlach from Sydney - Blue dragon-glaucus atlanticus, CC BY-SA 2.0

[nonameidentified]

Why must pretty things kill me?

My current "pretty but painful" fixation is the blue sea dragon. I mean, just look at it.

Just look at that brilliant blue hue.

The blue sea dragon (glaucus atlanticus) is a sea slug found in tropical and sub tropical waters. They float upside down in the ocean, and that's also the reason for their bright blue colour. It is so that they can blend in with the blue of the ocean.

But my favorite thing about these creatures is the fact they are absolutely tiny. They only grow to be 3 cm. They are tiny little guys. (つ≧▽≦)つ

If they are just cute little guys, then what makes them so dangerous? Well, it's their prey. They feed on the portuguese man o' war (that's is a ridiculous name). The man o' war are like jellyfish without actually being a jellyfish (taxonomy is weird). The only thing notable about them here is that they have venomous nematocysts capable of delivering stings painful enough to kill fish and occasionally humans too.

Which, since the blue sea dragons eat them, gives them access to these stinging cells, which they store in their own tissues as a defense against predators.

Because these slugs concentrate the venom, they are capable of producing a more painful and deadly sting than their prey. Which shatters my dreams of petting them because I will die a miserable death.

[npcfetchquest]

Chrono Cross - all swallow weapons

[thefoilguy]

Blue Sea Dragon - Aluminum Foil Sculpture

[supereffectivemoonblast]

Blue Dragon

Glaucus atlanticus

The Blue Dragon, also known as the Blue Angel, Blue Gaucus or Sea Swallow, is a Nudibranch Sea Slug. The last Nudibranch I drew, the Sea Bunny, was a Benthic species (meaning it lives on the sea floor), but the Blue Dragon is a Pelagic species (swimming around like a fish).

Curiously, the Blue Dragon swims upside-down, this surface I've drawn in this picture is actually the belly of the Slug. The Blue Dragon clings upside to the surface of the water like a draconian water bat, then let's the wind and the ocean's currents carry it around. It eats bluebottles and other pelagic soft bodied organisms.

[earthstory]

Glaucus atlanticus, commonly called a sea swallow, blue angel, or various other names, may well be the most exquisite creature known to humankind. It is a ocean drifter, clinging to the surface film of the sea like a snail in a pond; being a species of sea slug, there is not a great biological difference between the two.

The sea swallow feeds on siphonophores, jellyfish-like entities formed from masses of stinging polyps that drift in the plankton. The slug is immune to these venomous colonies, however, allowing it nearly exclusive access to siphonophores as a food source; it secretes their stinging cells (nematocysts) in its finger-like extensions as a defence. The stolen venom becomes extremely concentrated as the animal grows larger, giving them a stinging power agonising to humans.

-TJT

No photo can really do this animal justice, but I found this particularly good one on Sylke Rohrlach's Flickr page. Her photographs of marine life are stunning, and well worth an extended look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/87895263@N06/

[osplanetasdasabelhas]

Sea Swallow (Sterna hirundo)

photo pedro lemos

in: pedrolemos_photography