Came across this odd critter at Broadbeach today. It’s a Glaucus Atlanticus.
Posted by Lucinda Fry on Thursday, November 12, 2015
It’s tough stand out as “weird” in a place like the ocean. That’s like picking the absolute worst of Adam Sandler’s recent films – they’re all horrendous, but it’s hard to pick just one! Covering 70 percent of the globe and spanning unimaginable depths, the ocean is an ample breeding ground for the bizarre. You got the Vampire Reaper. The Sea Pig. The Flying Spaghetti Monster, for chrissake. In a (quite literal) sea of strange, it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the weirdest of the weird.
But amid all the wild creepy crawlies out there, the Blue Dragon comes pretty damn close due to its sheer singularity. It looks more like a character in a Dr. Seuss book than an actual animal. It looks like something that could be on a poster in a stoner college student’s dorm room. It looks like a freaking Phoenix, reborn from the ashes, née the sea, in a sunburst of artificial blue raspberry flavoring.
Technically a sea slug, Blue Dragons inhabit the most tropical and warmest oceans across the globe. This lil bugger, captured on video by Lucinda Fry, washed ashore on Australia’s Gold Coast. And if their looks weren’t cool enough, they’ve also got some pretty amazing talents and behaviors:
They’re Lazy
Whereas most sea slugs like to swim around on the ocean floor, Blue Dragons like to flip upside down and let the current take them. When I retire, you’ll find me in some tropical place doing the same thing.
They’re Giant Killers
They like to feed on the gigantic and deadly Portuguese Man o’ War jellyfish, which, if you’ve ever heard of, you should be praising these blue lil guys.
They Pack a Punch
Though they’re cute, Blue Dragons have an incredibly powerful sting. If they’re encountered in the wild, humans are not advised to pick them up…no matter how badly you want to take a selfie with it.
The sea has an endless supply of strange, more like an alien universe than a earthly ecosystem, with the weirdest of the weird being hard to nail down. But when it comes to psychedelic appearance, matched by peculiar behaviors, the Blue Dragon is definitely up for contention.
