These sea dragons off the Texas coast are beautiful, but don’t touch them, experts say
With their alluring, iridescent colors that appear to vibrate under rays of sunshine, these tiny sea creatures known as blue dragons or blue angels, can make a person reach out to touch them in awe.
But you better not — their sting packs a punch.
Officially known as blue glaucaus,a type of sea slug, they were spotted Saturday at the Padre Island National Seashore by a Texas family who snapped a few photos, according to KSAT.
Their discovery was made by 7-year-old Hunter Lane when he and his family were visiting Padre.
“We then went on to find four more throughout the afternoon,” Leah Lane, Hunter’s mother, said to KSAT. “One washed up right next to my foot at some point, luckily I saw him and didn’t step on it.”
Padre Island National Seashore posted Hunter’s photos on their Facebook page and received posts of more people happening upon these creatures, which are about 1 1/2 inches long.
These blue dragons aren’t venomous by themselves, according to Oceana.org, but can become so after feeding on their preferred prey, Portuguese man o’ wars, to which “the blue gaucus stores the stinging nematocysts created by the prey’s notoriously long, venomous tentacles.”
When threatened or touched, the blue dragon can “release these stinging cells to deliver a far more potent sting than the Portuguese man o’ war can alone,” according to Oceana.org.
Thanks to their bright cerulean shine, which acts as a camouflage against ocean waves, Hunter was tempted to reach out to touch one of the little dragons, but refrained.
“Hunter really wanted to touch it, I don’t blame him, I did too, as they look very soft and squishy,” his mother said, according to KSAT. “But we discussed that since we have no clue what they are we better not. After thinking about it he even said ‘he might be like the poison dart frog, mom, he is kind of brightly colored, which is a warning.’ Smart kid.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2020 at 6:38 PM.