Glogus, The Seaslug

By David P. Everson

One such animal is "Glogus," a seaslug. This member of the order of Mollusca has a very unique appetite and ability. Glogus lives within a complete community in the open ocean floating along on the seaweed Sargassum. The area of the Atlantic Ocean where this seaweed gathers is called the Sargasso Sea. Glogus is quite small, only 2 to 3 inches long. It is capable of eating a most unusual food, the tentacles of the jellyfish, Portuguese Man of War. This may not seem like a real challenge unless we understand that all jellyfish have specialized stinging cells called cnidocysts. These cell are discharged by any contact on the trigger portion of the cell. The Man of War's stinging cells contain one of the more potent poisons in the phylum Coelenterate, powerful enough even to kill a human. But the ability of Glogus to feed upon these tentacles and stinging cells without suffering any harm does not end the story. The seaslug can bite off the stinging cells, swallow them and then move them into the extensions sticking off his body. The stinging cells are then available to discharge upon contact with any enemy of Glogus who gets too close. While this defense does not deter all who would eat the seaslug, it certainly gives Glogus a better chance at survival. This ability is most difficult to explain and certainly shows that, indeed, the seaslug had to have a designer.

No matter what the source, this display in nature shows two things: (1) man's ability to understand and explain even those events we can see is limited, and (2) along side the power that God has placed in his creation of the universe, man is very weak and pitiful. God is in control of all the forces around us and we need to give him the glory.