The Blue Dragon Sea Slug: A Cute but Dangerous Sea Creature!
Aside from causing a very painful sting, this gastropod could potentially kill a person, especially those who experience severe allergic reaction to its sting.
Also known as the blue dragon, sea swallow or blue angel, the blue glaucus is a species of brightly colored sea slug (nudibranch), and can be found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans in temperate and tropical waters.
Glaucus atlanticus is able to swallow the venomous nematocysts from the Portuguese Man o' War, and store them in the extremities of its finger-like cerata. This protects the sea slug from predation. People sometimes pick up these unusual blue sea slugs after they wash up on beaches.
The Blue Dragon's diet consists of hydrozoans, mainly the infamous Portuguese Man o' War. The slugs float in the current until they find one of the jellyfish like animals and then eat the entire structure. It may often resort to cannibalism as well. Due to these, the Blue Glaucus is considered a carnivore.
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