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The Blue Dragon Species

The Pearl Protectors — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 11:04:40 +0000

By Janya Edirisinghe

Glaucus Atlanticus, commonly known as the blue dragon/blue glaucus are a species of nudibranches (sea slugs). However, unlike terrestrial sea slugs, these sea slugs are very brightly coloured. These colours have inspired a series of nicknames, such as blue dragon, sea swallow, and blue angel.

CHARACTERISTICS AND APPEARANCE

The Blue Dragon species is pelagic which means that they float on the water surface, due to the air stored inside their stomachs, which is not a common characteristic of most nudibranchs. The creature often floats on its backside, showing its brightly coloured underbelly to airborne predators. The bright and dark blue colour camouflage against the backdrop of ocean waves, and the animal’s silvery grey dorsal blends in with the bright sea surface, concealing it from predators below. The deep blue colour may also help reflect harmful UV rays. This phenomenon is called countershading where the animal is built in a way to help it avoid being attacked by both flying and swimming predators while floating in open water.

Additionally, the Blue Glaucus has a flattened, tapered body, along with six appendages that branch out into finger-like cerata – they almost look like horns. Cerata are long, slender structures that sting when hunting or when the Blue Glaucus feels threatened.

FOOD AND DIET

Like other sea slug species, the blue glaucus isn’t venomous by itself. They store venom in their bodies mostly derived as they feed on other pelagic, venomous creatures including the Portuguese Man o’ War and the Blue Button Jelly. These sea slugs will then store these toxins within their own tissues. The blue dragon has hard disks inside its skin and a protective layer of mucus that shields them against these stinging cells – of which it can accumulate a significant amount. This ability provides the blue glaucus with a defence mechanism against predation. Cannibalism is also very common between this species – these slugs won’t hesitate to eat other Blue Glaucus if they are unable to find other pelagic creatures to feast on.

HABITAT

Glaucus Atlanticus thrive in warm temperate climates and are usually found in tropical/subtropical waters. These sea slugs are passive swimmers which means that they are carried along by the winds and ocean currents. A group of blue glaucuses floating together is called a ‘blue fleet’. Since they float with the current, these ‘blue fleets’ can end up being stranded in beaches accidentally and they can be found in almost every ocean – there are several records of these creatures being found along Indian coastlines. Humans handling the slug may receive a very painful and potentially dangerous sting, hence it is not advisable to have close contact with these creatures. One thing to keep in mind is that the venom of the Blue Glaucus remains active even after it dies!

Interestingly, Blue Glaucus are now appearing in regions where they have never been seen before and scientists theorize that this may be due to the cyclical changes in the Portuguese Man o’ War populations, warming oceans and increased storm activity.

LIFESPAN AND REPRODUCTION

The life expectancy of the Blue Dragon is short and ranges from between one month to one year.

The Blue Glaucus, like all nudibranchs, is hermaphroditic – each individual produces both egg and sperm. An individual cannot fertilize its own eggs, however, and hence pairs must still mate. Long, spiral-shaped eggs are produced by both males and females and often float freely in the open water or stick to nearby surfaces.

THREATS

Many people want to add these creatures to aquariums all around the world, but keeping the Blue Glaucus in confinement is impractical because of its diet, as it is nearly impossible to obtain the required number of Portuguese Man o’ War, and those kept as pets often starve to death.

Moreover, ocean acidification caused by an increase in C02 levels due to global warming has led to a reduction of food that the Portuguese man o’ war eats (such as shrimp and small adult fish), eventually threatening Blue Glaucus populations.

Additionally, pollution represents an ongoing threat to the survival of Blue Glaucus. Harmful objects can be fatal to this sea slug as well as the toxins in the trash.

As mentioned above, cannibalism is common among this species, so other Blue Glaucus impose a threat to this sea slug. Few studies that have been conducted on the Blue Glaucus, show that loggerhead sea turtles may be one natural predator. A study on this species found that 42% of their stomachs contained remnants of blue dragons.

In conclusion, like most marine invertebrates, there is little information available regarding the conservation status of the Blue Glaucus, therefore, more research has to be done into this area, so that these creatures do not go into extinction.

An Introduction to Blast Fishing

The Pearl Protectors — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 07:58:12 +0000

By Nathasha Wickramasinghe

Dynamite fishing, more commonly known as ‘blast fishing’, is a fishing technique where dynamite or other explosives are used to stun/kill fish. The explosions send shock waves through the water, which stuns, kills, or ruptures the fish’s swim bladder (i.e., the organ that controls their buoyancy). Once the dead fish surfaces the water, they are collected with ease and sold at fish markets.

This is a highly destructive technique as it kills any animal and flora in the blast area ranging from fish eggs, and plankton to whales and coral reefs. It completely destroys fish habitats, thereby affecting the livelihoods of fish communities.

One of the most devastating impacts of blast fishing is on coral reefs. Coral reefs are built by coral polyps which are small soft-bodied organisms that are related to anemones and jellyfish. These coral polyps secrete calcium carbonate which creates the foundation for baby corals to grow. But bomb fragments used in various explosives will completely shatter the skeleton of the coral (which is the calcium carbonate built up over time), thus reducing it to rubble. After such damage, it would usually take up to 9 – 12 years to recover coral reefs. However, it will never return to the condition it was before the disturbance. This destroys a prominent underwater habitat, home to more than 7000 species ranging from sponges, oysters, crustaceans to reef shark, sea turtles etc.

One of the most recent cases of blast fishing is in Sabah, Malaysia. Blast fishing was not a common practice as it is now post-COVID-19. This is due to the loss of the local communities’ source of income that is tourism. The situation was so devastating in Sabah that approximately 15 blasts could be heard per hour and less than 25% of the coral reef is now intact.

Furthermore, food insecurity will start to arise due to shortages of fish variety in the long run. Thus, if it is not rectified, then the quality of living standards in these coastal areas will start to fall and the inequality in terms of income and access to basic necessities like food within the community will start to rise.

As the awareness of the consequences of blast fishing is increasing, people around the world have come up with various solutions. For example, after the detrimental impacts on the coral reefs of the northern part of the islands of Borneo in Sabah, Malaysia, a Hong-Kong based non-governmental organization called ‘ Stop Fish Bombing ‘, has collaborated with a California technology company called ‘Shot Spotter’ to create gunshot locating technology that can be used to detect fish bombs underwater. The technology uses acoustic sensing, location technology, and emerging surveillance and monitoring systems, which allows the organization to easily detect any underwater disruptions. With this technology, we are able to create a global detection system, allowing us to put a stop to this illegal fishing activity around the world.

The Stop Fish Bombing organization has further collaborated with Anti Fish bombing committee of Sabah government, WWF Malaysia and Reef check Malaysia, and Sabah Environment Trust, to develop new policies that complies with the Government’s sustainable development Goal 14 (i.e., conserve & sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development). These new policies can be imposed to stop blast fishing and ensure sustainability in the marine environment.

Another major case was the illegal practice of blast fishing in Tanzania even after banning it once again in 2003. Initially it started in the early 1960’s after begin firstly introduced by the Europeans during World war 2 and was banned in 1970.

\Blast fishing in Tanzania was banned under the revised fisheries act in 2003. The Fisheries Act states that it is an act to repeal and replace the Fisheries Act of 1970. It is to make provision for sustainable development, conservation, protection, aqua culture development and regulation of marine products. The government in 2003 further imposed a sentence of five years for dynamite fishing and 12 months just for the possession of these explosives.

Dozens of kerosene bombs were tossed into the Indian Ocean mainly along the coastlines of Mtwara to Tanga. These explosives were derived from mines/road construction firms or simply just made at home. They are very easy to make, accessible, and cheap, making the use of blast fishing more frequent. The explosives will produce an underwater shock that will rupture the fishes swim bladder. The fish will then float to the surface where the Tanzanian fisherman will scoop them up in their fishing nets.

In order to reduce the impact of blast fishing, environmental organizations such as Mwambo coastal community network (non-profit organization) and Multi – Agency Task Team collaborated to target and control individuals involved in the illegal practice and seize their assets.

In addition to that, the Tanzania Blast Monitoring Network is conducting awareness campaigns within local communities, educating the young generation about the habitual destruction caused by dynamite fishing.

Today, blast fishing is prohibited in many countries around the world however, it is still a common practice in southern parts of Asia such as Malaysia and Philippines despite many laws begin enforced on this illegal practice.

Header Image: Zu Yien – Fotolia

4th PET Bottle Christmas Tree by the Pearl Protectors

The Pearl Protectors — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 11:48:31 +0000

By Tania de Silva

This past Christmas, The Pearl Protectors constructed a 12 feet tall Christmas tree at Wellawatta Beach with the support of their enthusiastic volunteers and in partnership with Zerotrash LK. For the fourth consecutive year, this PET Bottle Christmas tree was constructed by using 1500+ discarded plastic bottles collected from the shorelines of Sri Lanka.

The determined team met on the 21st and 22nd of December 2022 at Zero Trash Boralesgamuwa and on the 23rd & 24th of December 2022 at Wellawatta Beach with the motive of advocating for the reduced usage of plastic and for the purpose of protecting the marine environment. Prior to this, PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles were collected and stored from all the beach clean-ups conducted during 2022. All PET bottles were cleaned, water was included as weight, strings attached, and the bottles had to be classified according to the size, before being transported to Wellawatta.

On day three, all bottles which were prepared at Zerotrash were brought to Wellawatta Beach. Volunteers from The Pearl Protectors, with the support of team members of the Rotaract Club of Informatics Institute of Technology, started hanging the bottles to create the outer structure of this tree. During the course of construction, Grade 5 students from Imbulana Sri Sena Maha Vidyalaya visited to witness the construction of the tree where they also saw the ocean for the first time.

On the 24th, the last day of the tree construction, the last batch of bottles was hung on the tree and the lights were added with the support of a handful of passionate volunteers from The Pearl Protectors, Asha Foundation, and Visakha Vidyalaya Interactors. Sri Lanka Coast Guard also showed their support towards the lighting of the tree.

The PET Bottle Christmas tree was made for the fourth year in a row to recognize the challenges posed to our marine environment due to single-use plastics. The tree reminded us of the lasting negative impacts of single-use plastic on our oceans and beaches and reminded us all to cut down on its usage because most often than not, the plastic items that we use – such as plastic bottles – are sure to end up littering our oceans and beaches. Not only is this an eyesore, but it also threatens marine animals and the marine ecosystem.

In conclusion, The Pearl Protector volunteers deconstructed the PET Bottle Christmas tree, and all the bottles were sent for recycling through Zerotrash LK (Pvt) Ltd. The Pearl Protectors were grateful to all the passionate volunteers who came to support the preparation, construction, and dismantling of the tree

Header Image: Road Media/Nazly Ahmed