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A SEABEAST labeled “the most beautiful killer in the ocean” due to its dazzling blue color and potentially fatal sting has spread en masse on an African beach.
The creatures, known as blue dragons, were found on Fish Hoek Beach near Cape Town in South Africa by a local grandmother taking a walk along the sand.
The sea snail, also known as Glaucus atlanticus, feeds on the deadly Portuguese man o ‘war and other poisonous sea beasts.
But the extraordinary creature absorbs the stinging cells from its food and stores them in concentrated doses, giving it a far more powerful sting than its prey.
Typical symptoms of blue dragon sting include nausea, pain, vomiting, and acute allergic contact dermatitis.
Maria Wagener, who found the creatures, often helps beached starfish get back into the water, but luckily managed to escape when instinct told her to keep her distance.
“I’ve never seen them before and I’ve lived near this beach for most of my life,” he said.
“I collect starfish all the time and put them back into the sea, but I had a feeling they had a sting.
I had a feeling these were going to have a sting
Maria Wagener
“I probably would have put them back into the sea if I had had something to lift them, but no, I didn’t touch them!”
Mrs. Wagener estimates she found 20 on the beach, but says “it could have been more”.
And if there was any doubt that the creatures had ingested poison from their prey, the grandmother found the evidence right at the bottom of the beach.
“There were also a variety of other marine life species,” he said.
“There were little blue crabs, Portuguese war men and blue shells called Janthina Janthina.”
The blue dragons were still alive and he said “the tide would bring them back to the sea”.
Ms. Wagener shares photos of her beach discoveries on her Facebook page, Fish Hoek Beach.
“I’m a bit like a sea scorpion. They are small, about an inch long. They are blue on top and white below, “he added.
“It wasn’t hard to spot them on the white sand.”
The strange and rare sea creatures have a huge ocean range – they have been found on the beaches of Australia and the United States.
Blue sea snails float with their bright blue undersides – actually the “foot” – facing up to camouflage them against the sea, and with the silvery side facing down to blend in with the sky.
They are hermaphrodites, meaning they are both male and female, and when they mate both partners lay a series of eggs.
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