On a beach vacation, a venomous sea slug is probably not at the top of your must-see list. That’s exactly what San Antonio resident Erick Yanta found on his trip to Mustang Island, a 28-kilometer-wide stretch of land in the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas.
As they strolled along the beach, Yanta and his wife, Anna, spotted a small blue and white creature no more than an inch long clinging to a rock. He picked it up for a closer look and filmed it before carefully placing it back in the water.
Yanta didn’t know this at the time, but they found the venomous Glaucus atlanticus, also known as the “blue dragon”.
“We’ve seen many jellyfish like the ‘Portuguese caravel’, but never this animal,” Yanta said. The “Portuguese caravel” is a siphonophore, a species closely related to jellyfish, according to the National Ocean Service.
As soon as he captured the video, Yanta joined the Reddit forum so users could help him identify the animal.
They adapt to avoid predators
The blue dragon normally lives on the surface of the open ocean, said David Hicks, professor and director of the School of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburgh.
Slugs have a bright blue belly and a softer silver tinge to their backs, he said. Blue dragons float on their backs so the blue at the bottom can blend in with the water, while the gray blends in with the sea surface, Hicks said.
This is called “countershading,” an evolutionary trait that helps animals avoid predators, he said.
“Sea slugs can be found on just about any beach in tropical and subtropical latitudes, but their small size means most beachgoers don’t see them,” explains Hicks.
“They are also soft-bodied, so they often break as they pass through the surf zone and are deposited on the shore,” he said.
a poisonous sting
Despite their small size, blue dragons pack quite a punch with their sting.
The animal eats creatures like the venomous Portuguese man-oar and stores its prey’s stinging cells, called cnidocytes, in sacks, Hicks said. Blue dragons will use the cells to protect them from predators, and humans are sometimes caught in the crossfire.
The pain of being stung is similar to a caravel sting, which can be quite painful and, in rare cases, life-threatening, Hicks said. Symptoms after a sting can include nausea and vomiting, according to American Oceans.
If you get bitten by a blue dragon, it’s best to go to a hospital for treatment, according to Ocean Info.
Yanta didn’t know that the blue dragon he found was poisonous and then laughed when he realized what he had in his hands. He said knowing in advance wouldn’t have made a difference.
“I would have done the same thing,” Yanta said. “I still would have taken it, filmed it and put it back in the water.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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