Animal of the Week: Sea Angel
Welcome to our new Reed Review series! This series is about all the different animals you’ve never heard about. We will try to post an article every week. We hope you readers will enjoy this informative series!
Today, we’ll be talking about the Sea Angel. This
strange but graceful creature is a small sea slug that adapted to have no shell, since it lives actively swimming through the ocean. This relates to the adaptation to grow fins that resemble wings, hence the name, Sea Angel. These swimming appendages are called parapodia. Sea Angels’ habitats stretch all the way from tropical waters to polar regions. They can live in areas up to 500 meters below the surface.
As you can see in the picture, the Sea Angel is nearly transparent. The outside of its body is clear, which allows you to see its organs. The Sea Angel has a jello-like touch. They are very small, so small that the largest variety of Sea Angels (Clione limacina) only grows up to two inches long, at most.
Even though Sea Angels seem like peaceful creatures, they are actually predators with a diet mainly consisting of Sea Butterflies, their relative species. To help catch them easily, Sea Angels have developed a speed twice as fast as their prey. Some have even grown tentacles to help hold them down while they eat. They can also lay out a webbed sticky substance (mucus), which is meant to trap and entangle Sea Butterflies.
Sea Angels are hermaphrodites, which means they are born male, but as they age, they slowly switch genders and turn female. These creatures mate by joining together with a special sucker. Then they turn their reproductive organs inside out. This can last up to four hours, and after separate, the sucker will leave a scar. They can lay up to 30-40 eggs.
Sea Angels are interesting creatures. We hope you have enjoyed the first article of Did You Know? Animal Series! See you next week!
Zoe Weirauch ‘23 :D
Reanna Lee ‘23 ;)
