Beachcombing - Blue Dragon
Each spring when we get strong southeast winds blowing in, we get a wave of man-o-wars, by the wind sailors, blue buttons, storm snails, and the organisms that feed on them, blue dragons. Thousands of by the wind sailors washing up, quite a few small mon-o-wars, and the rarely seen blue dragon. Glaucus atlanticus sea slug, or blue dragon, is a pelagic nudibranch that sails on the surface of the ocean. They are typically just an inch long, and feed on the toxins of much larger species such as Portuguese man o’ wars, which have tentacles around 30 feet. The blue dragon is immune to the toxins, and collects them in special sacs within the finger-like branches at the end of its appendages. When threatened or touched, it can release stinging cells with more powerful stings than the Portuguese man o' war can alone! That’s why we recommend just taking photos and not touching. This is just the first “blue wave” of these organisms washing in together. You can expect to see this happening more as we get into spring with strong southeast winds blowing them onshore. Watch this episode of Beachcombing with Jace Tunnell to get up close look at the beautiful creatures. Learn more about the Beachcombing series and the work being done at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at https://www.harteresearch.org!