Context: Several beaches in Spain have been closed after a tiny species of sea slug began to wash ashore. These slugs called blue dragons are capable of delivering one of the most ferocious stings in the animal world.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Blue Dragons.
What are Blue Dragons?
- Blue dragons are a small type of sea slug, barely four centimetres long.
- They are typically found in tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian ocean, and have been rarely seen in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Their recent sightings in the Mediterranean Sea can be attributed to rising Mediterranean temperatures which brought more of their food sources like hydrozonas (E.g., Portuguese man o’ war) into the region.
Unique traits of Blue Dragons:
- They live on the ocean surface and drift with the currents. While other sea slugs live on the seabed, blue dragons float upside down on the ocean surface. They can do so by swallowing and maintaining an air bubble in the stomach.
- They camouflage themselves with the sea’s blue colour, and on their underside they are white, blending with sunlight when seen from below. It is a defensive strategy.
- They feed on hydrozoans and jellyfish and incorporate the stinging cells of the jellyfish into multiple finger-like structures protruding from their bodies.
- Their sting can be extremely painful to humans and cause redness, swelling, nausea, and vomiting. However, it cannot lead to death.
Note: The Mediterranean Sea is one of the fastest-warming water bodies. At the end of June, the temperatures exceeded 28 degrees Celsius with thermal anomalies of five degrees.