Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Family: Glaucidea
Order: Syngathiformes
Genus: Glaucus
Species: Glaucus Atlanticus
Subspecies
Glaucus Atlanticus
Glaucus Bennettae
Glaucus Mcfarlanei
Glaucus Marginatus
Glaucus Thompsoni
The first records of this animal date back to 1777 in the central mexican pacific
The closest living relative is the Portuguese Man O' War
The Blue Sea Dragon has a flattened, tapered body with six appendages.
Have blue heads often found with black or dark blues lines down their body.
Can grow up to 3cm long and weigh around 100g-300g
Can live up to a year under the right conditions
Use an air bubble in their stomaches to float around.
This animal is most commonly found in the temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. As of recent years, they have been found near Australia.
Loggerhead turtles are often found follow these animals as they are one of their food sources.
Live in the pelagic zone (open ocean)
Not considered an invasive species
This animal is special due to the animals it eats. It is most commonly found consuming the Portuguese Man O' War or the Blue Bottle Jelly who's venom doesn't affect them. They are also foraging Predators.
It stores the venom from this animals singing cells and creates a more concentrated dosage that can paralyze anything 300 times its size.
These animals occasionally form groups called "Blue Fleets" which can wash up on shore and harm people at the beach.
Neither males or females lead the group as they're hermaphrodites.
These animals are hermaphrodites, meaning the have both males and female reproductive organs. However, they must mate with another of their species to produce offspring.
During mating they wrap around each other to protect themselves.
A string of 16 eggs is typiclly produced which will hatch within 3 days
The main causes of death are due to predators like the Loggerhead turtle, old age (roughly 1 year) and ocean pollution.
They compete over food (jellyfish) and mates. They are not known to fight over territory as they mostly float around.
One of the largest impacts humans have on these animals has been ocean pollution. Although they are deadly animals, they often victim to the effects of pollution.
Once they die, they often wash up in groups (blue fleets) on beaches and harm humans.
They don't appear on the IUCN redlist due to the fact that they are small and float around so its hard to get an approxamite reading on their status.