We are all aware that Australia is home to creatures that are cute, deadly and the lethal combination of both cute and deadly. A beachgoing local recently spotted and took a video of a blobby, neon blue creature that looked entirely alien in the sands of Broadbent beach in Queensland. Of course, she immediately posted the footage to her Facebook account.
The video shows the bizarre creature, appropriately named the Blue Dragon, wriggling in the sand, moving what seems to be its head.
As odd as it looks in the sand, the Blue Dragon looks absolutely striking in its natural water habitat. However, since the beautifully colored creature resides in Australia and you should know better, this beauty of nature has a painful sting for you if you ever decide to manhandle it. That's why Griffith University marine invertebrates expert Kylie Pitt does not suggest coming into contact with it.
If you need further evidence on this peculiar Blue Dragon, Pitt says it is actually a sea slug called Glaucus atlanticus that feeds on blue bottle Jellyfish which can severely injure humans. However, instead of injuring the slug when it feeds on the notorious venomous jellyfish, its prey's sting cells are stored on the outside of its body, giving it the perfect defense mechanism for predators or curious humans.
The expert describes the blue slug as "weird" and explained that they float on their backs and use the water's surface tension to move around. These blue dragons are already reported to be seen in the east coast of Australia and are more common in moderate and tropical waters. While the video doesn't really give us a general idea of how big the blue dragon is, experts say that they generally grow up to nearly 3-4 cm (1.18-1.57 inches) in length.
As a friendly reminder, we know it's cute but that doesn't make it any less deadly so make sure to keep your hands off of it.
