This year a good (yet disaster-prone) friend of mine marked our country’s 249th birthday by watching that classic 4th of July film, Jaws. (Plus it was the movie’s 50th anniversary this year!) The actual viewing happened the day before, because my friend had plans to be out at the beach for the holiday. He told me that for a split second he thought, “Am I courting danger here?” Then dismissed it as a ridiculous fear, too on the nose. Well, guess who had to make a mad dash out of the waters of Rockaway Beach the next day… Now visitors to Guardamar del Segura in Spain’s Alicante province are heeding the advice of their own lifeguards and officials, who closed the beaches due to two sightings of a different marine predator. Behold: Glaucus atlanticus, commonly referred to as the Blue Dragon. They may only be 1.2 inches long (really!), but they feast on venomous animals in a unique digestive process that lets them concentrate the venom, which the little dragons then use to paralyze prey 300 times their size. We’re gonna need a bigger antidote.
José Luis Sáez, the mayor of Guardamar del Segura, announced on X that swimming was prohibited following “the appearance on Vivers Beach of two specimens of Glaucus atlanticus, known as the Blue Dragon.” The beaches of Guardamar del Segura span seven miles, per Sky News.
With his announcement, Sáez added two photos of the blue dragons, which are typically about four centimeters in length.
They are known to be foraging predators with tentacles that hold highly poisonous stinging cells, used for both hunting and self-defense, explains the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Sáez warned residents not to touch the slithering creatures, even with gloves.
“Notify lifeguards or authorities. If stung, rinse with salt water and go to a first aid station or health center. These are poisonous specimens, and their bite causes nausea, pain, and vomiting,” he said.
Sáez said that the Guardamar City Council has implemented a preventive measure to detect possible specimens swept away by ocean currents.
The presence of the slugs, though, caused the local police in Guardamar del Segura to issue their own warning.
“Contact with this marine animal can be dangerous and cause painful skin burns. We ask residents and visitors to follow the instructions, exercise extreme caution, and avoid direct contact with specimens that may appear on the sand,” their statement said in part.
The notice advised that they, in coordination with municipal services, were going to maintain surveillance and “provide prompt information on the development of the situation.”
On Thursday, Sáez announced on X that there was now a “yellow flag on the beaches of Guardamar following the closure of the special surveillance operation, due to the presence of two Blue Dragon specimens.”
According to an update from local police, a yellow flag means that “bathing is allowed, but with caution.”
“Take care of your safety and that of others. Enjoy the beach responsibly,” the department advised.
Call me crazy (you won’t be the first!), but I’d rather have a shark warning than a Blue Dragon warning at the beach I was visiting/hoping to swim in. And yes, it all has to do with size. Because I trust that the lifeguards and other technology (like the drones that were deployed in Rockaway Beach) can definitively spot a shark in the water. But these little guys?? HOW can you be sure that the site is clear of them?! Hmm? Maybe Mayor Sáez moved the beach to yellow flag conditions because it is rare for Blue Dragons to show up in Mediterranean waters, so he’s hoping the two errant ones just missed their left turn at Albuquerque? Still, I would not feel relaxed at all, constantly panicking that I just touched one of them. That being said, we simply must address the appearance of these little buggers. Yes, I’m talking about judging them by their looks. I know we as humans are pre-wired to find small things adorable as some evolutionary trait to ensure we take care of our young. Between the Blue Dragon’s size and distinctive coloring that looks like it was hand-painted, they’re freakin’ beautiful! CB nailed it, though, when she said “it looks like a Pokémon!” No wonder Mother Nature had to endow them with venomous powers — to give them a fighting chance!
Photos of Blue Dragons via YouTube and Wikipedia. Photo of Guardamar del Segura beach credit: Ana Hidalgo Burgos/Pexels
Ummm beautiful in a scary creature kind of way. In an aliens that crawled out of a meteorite that crashed on earth kind of way. In a lure you in because they’re so cute and tiny before they kill you kind of way!
I’m sure I’ve just watched too many alien creature movies but they look horrifying to me (because of what my imagination thinks they’ll be doing as soon as they burrow into my skin and take over my body). They don’t even look real 😱
I learnt to swim in the sea and was lucky enough that we were in the Caribbean at the time so the waters were lovely and clear but even then I didn’t like swimming over the dark patches of weeds. I don’t trust what lurks under the surface!
They’re gorgeous – but yeah.. if not a friend, why friend shaped???
I thought they were some kind of antiqued silver jewelry or charms at first glance.
“Missed their left turn at Albuquerque” – Bugs Bunny shoutout! Well done!
Some of the most venomous creatures are the most beautiful. They don’t even look real.
WaterDragon, same. I thought they looked like metal jewelry.
There is nothing scary about them! They appear at our beach all the time, much better than the blue bottles they eat.. and 300 times their tiny size is the size of a fish.. not a human 🙂
If you want to be scared of something invisible and deadly google Irukandji jellyfish… they are the real deal!
Depends on your definition of dangerous! I’ve gotten stung by the common jellyfish and it f*cking hurts. For a while. So a tiny critter that causes pain, plus nausea, plus, plus, plus, yeah, that’s dangerous in my book.