Please Vote in the Great Sea Slug Beauty Contest

Photography by Steve Childs
used under Creative Commons license

Aren't they incredible?

These are just some of the contestants in The Great Sea Slug Beauty Contest.  This competition is an online poll being held by my son's environmental education and awareness group, Healing Oceans Together (H2O).

The goal of the The Great Sea Slug Beauty Contest is to raise awareness about this fascinating and often overlooked inhabitants of seas all around the world.  The middle school-aged students who make up H2O believe that as people learn more about some of the more numerous but less publicized underwater creatures and come to appreciate them, they will be more willing to take action to help protect our global oceans.

Because they love sea slugs (the common name for the animal classification known as nudibranchs), they are holding The Great Sea Slug Beauty Contest in honor of Valentines Day.  So between now and Sunday, February 12, they are asking people of all ages to

Glaucus atlanticus © Taro Taylor,
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

visit the contest webpage to learn more about some outstanding types of sea slugs.  Then scroll to the end of the page to vote for your favorite.

The winner will be announced on Valentines Day, February 14, 2012.

They also have a map of visitors, and are hoping to get responses from all the different areas in the world where sea slugs live.  Since sea slugs live in almost all oceans and seas, that means pretty much from everywhere!

Photography by Patrick Krug
used under Creative Commons license

So after you have voted, please take a minute to help refer other people to the site.  Please encourage your friends and families to vote, and/or post information information about the contest on your eloops, blog, website, Facebook, Twitter account, or any other types of social media that you may use.

It is free and anonymous, and participating in the poll will not put you on any mailing list or anything like that (although if you are interested in keeping up with what is going on with this middle school-aged coop, you can sign up on their mailing list here).

Photo by: John Albers-Mead
by Creative Commons license

Help support these wonderful invertebrates, sometimes called "the living jewels of the sea," by visiting the contest page and by spreading the word among your networks.

Let's help these middle schoolers, who believe they can make a difference in the world, by generating some world-wide love for these under-appreciated wonders in our waters!