Sea angel
바다천사
A tiny shell-less swimming sea snail that "flies" through cold water on two wing-like feet. Only a few centimetres long, it eats little but sea butterflies and can fast for months.
See it on the 3D globe →At a glance
- Class
- Molluscs
- Lives in
- Cold waters of the Arctic and North Pacific
- Diet
- Meat eater (carnivore)
- Length
- about 0.03 m
- Habitat
- polar regions, open ocean
Quick answers
Where does the Sea angel live?
It lives in polar regions, open ocean of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. On the globe you can find it near Cold waters of the Arctic and North Pacific.
How big is the Sea angel?
It grows to about 0.03 m.
What does the Sea angel eat?
Its diet: meat eater (carnivore).
The sea angel, Clione limacina, is a tiny sea slug without a shell that seems to fly through cold water. It lives in the Arctic Ocean and cold parts of the North Atlantic, from the surface down to more than 500 metres, and ranges south at least to the Sargasso Sea.
It swims by flapping two wing-like parts of its foot. The northern kind matures at about 3 centimetres and can reach 7 to 8.5 centimetres, by far the biggest of all sea angels. Despite its sweet look, it is a predator that eats almost nothing except one kind of prey: small sea butterflies.
How does it catch its meal?
Adult sea angels feed almost only on sea butterflies, tiny swimming snails with shells, of the genus Limacina. A sea angel has three pairs of buccal cones, tentacle-like parts that shoot out of the head and grab the shell. Once the shell is turned the right way, it hooks the soft prey and pulls it out. It can also go without food for months, which helps when prey is hard to find.
How does it stay upright?
Beating its two wings, the sea angel moves up or keeps its depth in the water. To stay the right way up, it uses two gravity-sensing organs called statocysts. When it tilts, they sense it, and it corrects its posture with its tail. There are four species in the genus, including ones in the North Pacific, the Okhotsk Sea and Antarctic waters.
Fun facts
- This tiny swimming sea slug eats only sea butterflies, grabbing them with tentacles that shoot out of its head.
- It eats only sea butterflies.
- The northern kind can grow to about 8.5 centimetres.
- It was first described in 1676, the first shell-less pteropod known.
- It uses two gravity organs to stay upright.
On the globe
The card does not give an exact place. Look for it in cold polar waters, where it flaps its two small wings.
Quiz time
Which is longer: Sea angel or Giant clam?
Show the answer
Giant clam. (0.03 m vs 1.2 m) Giant clam →
More like this
_(Ifremer_00576-68796_-_27515).jpg){kind=link}
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14