Montserrat Virgilio Bernal

Life Science
Evidence 1
Group 405
The blue dragon (Glaucus Atlanticus)

Geographical space and habitat: It can be found on the surface of the Atlantic pacific,
and Indian oceans in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world.
Characteristics: It is a silvery grey on its dorsal side and dark and pale blue ventrally, it
has dark blue stripes on its head, this coloration affords it valuable protection from
predators both above and below it as it floats on the ocean’s surface, the deep blue
color may also help reflect harmful UV rays; it has a flat, tapering body and six
appendages that branch out into rayed, finger like cerate, cerata, also known as
papillae, extend laterally from three different pairs of peduncles, they can grow up to 1.2
inches (3 cm) long
Types of reproduction: They are hermaphrodites, meaning they produce both eggs
and sperms, but they still have to mate with another slug to produce viable eggs; when
two blue dragons mate, they engage carefully with long, curved, almost S shape bends
in their penises, their long anatomy keeps them from being stung by their partner, this
mating results in strings of 20 eggs that the slug lays on floating objects such as
driftwood or the floating carcass of their prey.
Growth stages:
Stage 1: The Glaucus Atlanticus will hatch from the egg strings and will be about 1 cm.
Stage 2: The Glaucus Atlanticus becomes a hatchling and gets ready to go to hunt in
the open ocean.
Stage 3: At this stage the Glaucus Atlanticus becomes about 2 to 2.5cm big and is
almost full size and also almost ready to mate.
Stage 4: The Glaucus Atlanticus is now an adult and is ready to mate and is a very
experienced at hunting jellyfish such as the venoms Portuguese Man o’ War the Blue
Button jellyfish and the violet snail.
Types of feeding: This specie is a foraging predator with an impressive appetite, its
diet consist of other pelagic species, its food of choice is a venomous and feared
cnidarian, the Portuguese man o’ war, blue button jellyfish, and the violet snail.
Food chain of that ecosystem
Humans - Blue dragons - Portugues man o’ war - Acorn barnacles - Plankton

The place that the blue dragon occupy in the food chain is the secondary
consumer; its function is to eat the secondary consumer to avoid overpopulation, if it
did not exist, more hydrozoans, specifically Man o’ Wars would be in our oceans,
overwhelming small fishes and other animals that they prey on, it would be more
dangerous to people going to the beach.

Blue dragons are important to the environment because are among nature’s most
efficient recyclers, but what they’re recycling you don’t want it, they absorb the stinging
cells of the Portuguese man o’ war and similar creature, then use them to deliver a
nasty sting of their own. Climate change is an additional threat the Blue Glaucus faces,
they are adversely affected by ocean acidification, which is caused by the increase of
C02 in the atmosphere, ocean acidification reduces the numbers of food that the
Portuguese man o War eats, eventually harming Blue Glaucus populations. Even
though the Glaucus Atlanticus can be deadly to humans, we can cause threats to the
lives of these slugs, oil spills in Oceans caused by us can be a very big threat to these
species, other gas such as air pollution can be very harmful.

Conclusion:
I learn a lot about the blue dragon animal, all about it, their habit, characteristics, their
reproduction, how they growth, their feeding, the prayers, the food chain, and a lot of
fun fact; after my research my choice was reaffirmed by how interesting and poisonous
a small creature could be, the purpose of this work it was to know unusual species of
animals and their information, especially the food chain of the animal, and to understand
the life cycle of the animal.

n.a [n.d] Blue Glaucus. AMERICAN OCEANS.

https://www.americanoceans.org/species/blue-glaucus/
B.D [2021] Blue dragon. Science and the Sea.
https://www.scienceandthesea.org/program/blue-dragon
S.C [n.d] Species of the Week: blue dragon. one earth.
https://www.oneearth.org/species-of-the-week-blue-dragon/#:~:text=The%20blue
%20dragon%20(Glaucus%20atlanticus,or%20just%20over%20one%20inch.

H.J [2021] 6 Fascinating Facts About Blue Dragons. Treehugger.

https://www.treehugger.com/fascinating-facts-about-blue-dragons-sea-
4864481#:~:text=All%20blue%20dragons%20are%20hermaphrodites,being%20stung
%20by%20their%20partner.
n.a [n.d] Blue glaucus Feeding Habits. Sites google.
https://sites.google.com/site/bluedragonbh2017/feeding-habits