'Blue dragon' sea creatures with sting stronger than Man O' War wash up on US beach

dailystar.co.uk:

creatures are a type of nudibranch or sea slug and are so rare that even some experts haven't heard of them.University of Texas Marine Science Institute Reserve Director: "Before the discovery of the blue dragons in 2020 I had never even seen or heard of one."Padre Island National Seashore park officials said after the initial discovery of the tiny but dangerous creatures in 2020: "Blue dragons are a predator of the Portuguese man-of-war.

After eating, they move the stinging cells from the man-of-war to the end of their ‘fingers.’"Because they concentrate the stinging cells together, their sting can be more painful than a Man O' War’s."Officials with the Mission-Aransas Reserve posted photos of the creatures on Facebook after finding four of the specimens last week.The Facebook post states: "We’ve got a number of cool finds washing up this week.

We recorded 4 blue dragons (species of sea slug) in a 100 meter stretch of beach just north of Bob Hall Pier. "Do not touch these animals, they feed on Man-o-Wars and sting just as bad.

We also see lots of blue buttons and some storm snails that feed on the blue buttons."Tunnell told KSAT he was out on the beach with some high school students who were there to do nurdle patrol surveys.“I spotted one about the size of a thumbnail and knew immediately what it was,” Tunnell said. “I counted four of them in like 100 meters.”For more shocking stories from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.The colourful critter is best known for eating venomous prey and stealing their toxins.