If we hear about a blue dragon, most of us will let our imagination fly and we will approach animals like the Saphira de Éragon, immense and of an intense blue color. or Shenlong the Spiritual Dragon of Chinese mythology that also has its scales of that tone, however today we want to approach an animal that is a real dragon, but much smaller: it is the Glaucus Atlánticus, the amazing little blue dragon.
In nature there are very few animals that we can claim to be blue. As we explained in Supercurioso, in the article in which we present 10 Beautiful Blue Animals that will amaze you , the fact that they are so few is due to the fact that the range of pigments that give coloration to animals is relatively small. In the animal kingdom, the yellow tonalities arise through compounds of pteridina, the orange ones or reddish ones are due to the carotenoides and the blacks and browns to the eumelinas, but blue pigments do not take place. The animals we see in blue are actually the result of effects such as iridescence or selective reflection, for example.
A small and amazing blue dragon, the Glaucus Atlánticus
The word "glaucous" comes from the ancient Greek "glauko" and meant "blue-gray" or "blue-green". The glaucus atlánticus is not really a dragon, it is a mollusk without a shell, a nudibranch gastropod. Together with their smaller "brothers", the glaucilla marginata, also of blue color, but smaller and less showy, are the two species that form the Glaucidae family. Its common name is "blue Dragon" and was first described in 1705 by a German naturalist named Johann Philipp Breyne who mistakenly considered him a leech. Nowadays it is considered a sea slug.
The blue Dragon It can be found in all the warm and tropical waters of the world. Whether in the Atlantic, Pacific or Indian Ocean, in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea or in the Mediterranean Sea, if you have good eyesight and luck you can see them floating on the surface of the water. They are not part of the plankton, but they are carried away by currents and winds. The sea dragon can move on its own, but it is usually a rather apathetic animal and can take more than five minutes to travel 10 cm! It measures between 3 and 4 cm. but it can reach 6 cm. They were described by the first naturalists who observed them as "graceful shapes and a pleasant assortment of colors". They gave it the name of blue Dragon since it looked like a small bluish lizard.
Its dorsal area is silvery blue and the belly of a pale blue tone, while its legs have bands of dark blue almost black. For decades, after its discovery, the ancient scientists studied them for their unique beauty.
Despite presenting this unique and beautiful appearance, the blue dragon is poisonous. The human being only produces a slight urticaria, but for smaller species it can be dangerous. The poison or urticant extracts it from its main food, hydrozoans, from which the tentacles usually eat. The hydrozoans float next to it on the marine surface forming the pleuston . One of his favorite delicacies is the sailcloths or sea sails . These animals have stinging cells called cnidocytes in their tentacles. These do not present a danger to man because his nematocysts, which are the parts he uses to inject the toxins, can not pass through human skin. However, they are processed by the small blue Dragon to make his poison.
The Glaucus Atlánticus is hermaphroditic, each individual has male and female reproductive organs, but can not self-fertilize. After fertilization each of the participants will put between 10 and 36 eggs surrounded by mucus in the form of a rosary or rope. This can reach a length of 17 millimeters. The eggs are abandoned to drift in the sea or sometimes, placed in corpses that have been prey of their parents.
Occasionally, the glaucus atlánticus or blue dragon, floating in large groups adrift, runs aground on the beaches along with the sailings. In Australia it is quite common for groups of children to throw themselves in the sand in "battles" known as "bluebottles fights". In this way, although the veils are not toxic to man, they come in contact with the blue Dragon, that is stinging, and in cases of allergic people can lead to anaphylactic shock.
Did you know the existence of this tiny blue Dragon ? Have you ever seen him? Share your experience with us! If you want to meet other animals of curious colors, we invite you to read:
- The Pink Dolphin an awesome creature | 10 Curiosities about him
- The Purple Snail | 10 Curiosities of this incredible color animal
- The Panda Ant | 15 Curiosities of a very rare animal
- Dendrobates tinctorius, the dangerous blue frog
- Poecilotheria metallica, the amazing and beautiful blue tarantula
Images: Sylke Rohrlach , Imtorn , Sylke Rohrlach