{"id":345511,"date":"2025-09-01T17:55:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=345511"},"modified":"2025-09-01T17:55:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T12:25:49","slug":"blue-dragons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/blue-dragons\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Dragons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Several beaches in Spain and Famara beaches in Lanzarote were closed earlier this month after blue dragons began to wash ashore.<\/p>\n<h2>About Blue Dragons<\/h2>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images.indianexpress.com\/2025\/08\/blue-dragon.jpg?resize=540%2C304&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"blue dragon\" width=\"540\" height=\"304\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Blue dragons are <strong>mollusks<\/strong> and <strong>belong to the nudibranch family,<\/strong> which means they are related to snails.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scientific name:<\/strong> Glaucus atlanticus.<\/li>\n<li>It is also called the <strong>sea swallow, blue angel, or blue dragon.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat:<\/strong> Blue dragons <strong>live in warm tropical and subtropical waters across the world.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Distribution:<\/strong> They are most commonly spotted along the<strong> coasts of Australia, South Africa, and parts of Europe.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Characteristics<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>They <strong>float upside-down at the ocean\u2019s surface<\/strong> using a gas-filled sac in their stomach to stay buoyant.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Size:<\/strong> They usually grow to a length of<strong> about 4 centimetres.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Diet:<\/strong> Blue dragons feed primarily on the<strong> Portuguese man-o-war and other venomous jellyfish.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>They are <strong>immune to the venom<\/strong> of their prey.<\/li>\n<li>After feeding, they <strong>steal the stinging cells<\/strong> (<strong>nematocysts<\/strong>) from jellyfish and <strong>store<\/strong> them for their own defense.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Appearance:<\/strong> Blue dragons have a <strong>striking blue upper side,<\/strong> which helps them blend in with the sea.\n<ul>\n<li>Their <strong>underside is white, allowing them to blend with sunlight when seen from below.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ecological Role:<\/strong> Blue dragons help <strong>control the population of jellyfish, <\/strong>including the dangerous Portuguese man-o-war.\n<ul>\n<li>They also serve as<strong> food for sea turtles, some fish, and seabirds.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Predators<\/strong>: <strong>Sea turtles<\/strong> are one of the main predators of blue dragons and are not affected by their venom.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Threat<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ocean pollution,<\/strong> especially <strong>plastics<\/strong> that resemble jellyfish.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate change<\/strong> also threatens them by altering the ocean currents and temperatures that they rely on for survival.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Blue dragons are dangerous to humans<\/strong> because their sting can cause <strong>pain, swelling, nausea, and breathing difficulties<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Even <strong>dead<\/strong> blue dragons can <strong>sting<\/strong> because the stinging cells remain active after death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Several beaches in Spain and Famara beaches in Lanzarote were closed earlier this month after blue dragons began to wash ashore. About Blue Dragons Blue dragons are mollusks and belong to the nudibranch family, which means they are related to snails. Scientific name: Glaucus atlanticus. It is also called the sea swallow, blue angel,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/blue-dragons\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Blue Dragons<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,10500],"class_list":["post-345511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}