www.waxheads.com 28 5 09

Blue Bottles Attacked

For all the waxheads out there that hate "Bluebottles" (also known as Portugese Man O' War) there are a few critters on your side. Glaucus and Purple Pelagic Snails eat Bluebottles!

Bluebottles and other animals with the same blue colouring that float on the surface of the ocean are part of a group of animals called "the Blue Armada" or the "Blue Layer". They form "swarms" out to sea and are at the mercy of the wind and currents. During our North Easterly winds they are blown onto the east Australian coast.

Glaucus are a sea slug which eats the stinging cells of Bluebottles but beware they can then use those same stinging cells for their own defence. Purple Pelagic Snails also eat bluebottles, they have a beautiful purple shell and secrete bubbles of mucous to float on the oceans surface.

Lynne Tuck photos and story


Glaucus these litter critters washed up on Thirroul beach south coast NSW