sabato 11 giugno 2011

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Amazing Species of Sea Slugs




1. The Wart Slug
The oceans are fearsome places for the creatures that live in them.  Predators are everywhere, and the fight for simple survival can often mean employing tactics that we humans might think bizarre. One tried and tested method for putting off those hungry enemies is to make yourself as noticeable as possible, even if that does seem contradictory, because, in the natural world, bright colors are often seen as warnings that the creature involved is inedible, so the more colorful, the better.


2.Tumbalen Sea Slug
Down on the sea floor, among the rocks and plants on the sea bed, there exist around 3,000 variations of a creature that certainly among the most visually stunning animals that you could ever hope to see, These members of the ‘nudibranch’ family, more commonly known as sea slugs, are in many cases breathtaking examples of how truly beautiful nature can be.
3. Notodoris gardineri Sea Slug
The Latin name is in reference to the exposed gills by which these animals breathe, Having no shells, these soft bodied mollusks, which are relations of the landlocked Snail, defend themselves not only with color, but also stinging cells on their bodies as well as toxic secretions.

4.Ocellata Sea Slug
Their vision is especially poor, eyes sensitive only to darkness and light. In compensation, nature provided the sea slugs with body protrusions named ‘Rhinopores’, by use of which they can feel, taste and smell the surrounding water, capable of detecting trace chemicals that give them all the information they need for finding food and others of their kind. Being carnivorous, they have advantages over competitors in that they can consume things others cannot.

5.  Nembrotha Kubariyana Sea Slug
Sotf corals and Sea Anenomes all contain stinging toxins which the sea slugs are able to process for their own use, meaning that the poisons have no effect on them. Not only that, but certain species have a special sort of algae within their bodies which generate nutrients and so provide extra energy when exposed to sunlight.

6. Berghia Sea Slug
They are unsuitable for placing in aquariums, simply because, when under threat, they release toxic chemicals which are seriously injurious for other sea life.  The range of colors and varieties of sea slug seem almost endless, and almost every combination you can dream up is likely to actually exist somewhere in the world.

7. Splendida Sea Slug
Bright colors can just as easily help them to blend into their surroundings as they can serve as warnings. Perhaps the real beauty of the sea slug lies in the fact that it is a simultaneous hermaphrodite, which entails each individual having both male and female reproductive organs .
8. Armina Sea Slug
This means that they can internally fertilize, doing it side-by-side when facing in opposite directions. At times, one actsact as tmale and the other female, while on other occasions they may cross fertilize. Once mating is completed, the individuals go separate ways in order to lay eggs, after which act death normally follows. The young are fully developed on hatching, having shells as juveniles that disappear as they develop into adults.
9. Mating Sea Slug
These truly incredible creatures present themselves, to the viewer as living rainbows, whose beauty takes their breath away and makes them smile. Nature can at times be spectacularly generous in the camouflage she provides to different creatures, and the gloriously colorful appearance of so many sea-slugs is mute testimony to that generosity. They may not be something that we are ever likely to see in our daily lives, but that surely makes these glorious pictures all the more worthwhile.









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