November 26th, 2015: Blue Dragon

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well some people call it that, along with sea swallow, blue angel, blue glaucus, blue sea slug and blue ocean slug, but it's actually a Glaucus atlanticus. All those different names for the same critter, goes a long way toward explaining why we have strife and wars. Less filling. tastes great. Etc.



I've a strange feeling this may have been an IToD before, but I can't be arsed (preparing for the Australia move) to look.

They spend their lives upside down, attached to the surface of the water and floating along at the mercy of the winds and ocean currents. Blue in color, they blend in with the water in order to camouflage themselves within their environment. And though petit, these baby dragons are also dangerous: they predate on venomous cnidarians, such as the Portuguese man o’war. They store the stings cells collected from these cnidarians within their own tissues, and use them as a defence on anything that bothers them. Handling a little blue dragon could result in a painful, and possibly dangerous, sting.

These things are rarely seen by people, but this one washed ashore in Australia.


You can see why going by one out on the ocean, you probably wouldn't see it.