Beware the Blue Dragon
If you're a surfer on the East Coast of Australia you'll know that bluebottles are the scourge of summer. Not morning seabreezes, month-long flat spells, or swarms of kooks, but the dreaded bluebottle.
Usually blowing in on the back of north-east seabreezes and storming the beach in small armies, bluebottles appear harmless but pack a mean punch. Their tentacles, which are mostly invisible in water, can stretch out for over two metres and each one is laced with poisonous barbs that can cause a range of reactions from mild discomfort to a full blown, blue-in-the-face, allergic response.
If bluebottles aren't bad enough it appears there's a new kid in town.
Swellnet forecaster, Craig Brokensha, was surfing at Curl Curl on Sydney's Northern Beaches recently when he spotted a strange looking critter (see image below and enlarge it for full eye-popping effect). Being a curious scientist Craig yelled, "What the fuck!" and hightailed it to the beach.
After he'd calmed down Craig went back and took a closer look at the strange creatures. They were about an inch long and like bluebottles seemed to travel in swarms. He didn't get close enough to find out if they delivered a sting or not.
Later, while researching the creatures, Craig found they went by the name of Glaucus Atlanticus, or Blue Dragon, a member of the nudibranch family, and they are more commonly found in tropical waters. Their habitat stretches from Hawaii to the Phillippines and the shores of northern Australia. The odd one will also surface near South Africa, and also, apparently, Sydney.
Further reading brought news that Blue Dragons may be a saviour of sorts as they prey on bluebottles. Blue Dragons, you see, are immune to bluebottle toxin so they consume them whole, doing their bit to clear the water of the summer scourge.
But then came the kicker, after eating the bluebottle the Blue Dragon will absorb its toxin and store it in the ends of its fingers. This enables the Blue Dragon to "produce a much more powerful and deadly sting than the Man of War [bluebottle] due to its ability to store the poison."
Having not been stung by a Blue Dragon no-one at Swellnet knows how bad the pain is. We're also not too keen to find out. If you see any in the water give them a wide berth.
Comments
I first saw these in Ulladulla by the hundreds and more recently at Balmoral Beach in Sydney Harbour. Always wondered about them, cheers.
I tell ya what if they can do more pain than a blue bottle we might be in trouble. I got stung on the face and arm after I decided not to wear a wetty. Ended up in hospital. Not cool and pretty painful.
Is there much out there on Human-Blue dragon interaction (that isn't in a Japanese cartoon)?
Have they a tendency to sting humans? and if they do how nasty is it?
Are we better with them than with the blue bottle's invisible sticky cords of joy?
I'm thankful I live in SA - mind you, last year around this time I remember seeing hundreds of blue bottles in Encounter bay.
I'm waiting for someone to post their experiences on here. A few people have commented on Facebook about picking 'em up and not getting stung so I'm not sure what the deal is. Wikipedia, where we got the above info, says they're nasty and need to be left alone.
Free cake of wax to anyone who posts a photo of themselves holding one.
They hurt, Stu.
There are reports of them on the Goldy last week.
Often see them on the southern end of the Sunny Coast around this time of year, in company with the Violet Sea Snails.
Sorry Stu, I saw one, also at Curl Curl, but didn't take the opportunity to get stung! I'll ask around.
@Dave,
Ahhh, the Violet Sea Snail, I read about that this morning too - another curious creature. I also discovered nudibranch's are so named because they are molluscs, but unlike most molluscs, the Violet Sea Snail for instance, they don't have a shell and so they are 'nude'.
It's been a most enlightening day in here at Swellnet.
@blindboy,
Remember to tell people there's a bar of wax in it for them!
I'll pick one up next time I see them and see what happens. Didn't want a bar of it on the weekend as I was really hungover and didn't wanna have to deal with some alien like organism making me its host.
I saw these cool looking buggers at Cronulla about a week ago.
I cupped some water in my hand with one of them (about the size of a 10c piece) in it to see what it was.
Some have longer fingers than others and they seem lifeless.
It was either not full of venom or I was lucky.
But bloody fascinating though!
Good luck getting stung!
'Ahhh, the Violet Sea Snail, I read about that this morning too - another curious creature. I also discovered nudibranch's are so named because they are molluscs, but unlike most molluscs, the Violet Sea Snail for instance, they don't have a shell and so they are 'nude'.'
Not quite, Stu.
Nudibranch means naked gills. Fair few molluscs don't have shells. Octopus, squid...
and the nasty part of the tentacles normally breaks off in the surf zone. Encounter one at sea and it is a whole different story.
Interesting you say that Dave, as onshore the critters were totally de-tentacalised (scientific term). I took one back to the car on a leaf and washed the sand off with fresh water but the remaining tentacles just fell away so easily.
Fragile little buggers.
I got stung by a bluebottle on the upper thigh once. Toxin went straight to my nuts, it felt like a horse had kicked me where you want to be kicked the least. I tried driving home, but had to pull the car over and writhe around on the verge for about half an hour. Not fun.
Not completely on topic, but I thought you'd all appreciate a bit of schadenfreude (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude) on a Thursday arvo.
Stu, you'll need my addy. in oder to ship the cake...
http://www.thefeaturedcreature.com/2010/08/new-week-nudibranch-blue-drag...
No worries, Roller, you look after the postage and handling, which by my quick calculation comes to $34.95, and I'll pop this $3 cake of wax in the mail.
Found some of these cool looking creatures at the local beach a few weeks ago, and of course picked one up. Not even a tingle of a sting, the kids played with them and nothing happened - think this ability to sting humans is hugely over rated. The 6 year old son even wanted to take one home as a pet. All the sites saying they stung seemed less then reputable or to sound like they were guessing to be honest,
Bru, wouldn't it be a bit more prudent to have concerns about the froth from the latest cyclones foam than any little minor blue slug sting?
Or maybe this sort of condition IS minor.... Something normal that happens after each and every Wilko heat.... Or interspew conducted by Paul Fisher.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/01/28/Sea-Foam-Blankets-Austr...
Holy Moly that is it!! These guys have been turning up in Cronulla. I've been trying to find out ever since what it was.
These chaps are hermaphroditic - when they mate, they each attempt to insert their penises into each other while trying to avoid being penetrated themselves, and quite often they resort to biting off each other penises in the process.
If you're on the east coast of Australia at the moment you now have a chance of seeing the extremely rare blue dragon (glaucus atlanticus). I saw many washed up on the beach yesterday at Corrimal. Beautiful. Small. Poisonous. Check it out!
Awesome, thanks for the heads up. I saw my mate had a photo of 3 of them from the weekend.
Has anyone considered that like bluebottle stings, the skin on the hand isn't amenable to their stingers, so you would have to put one on your legs, arms, chest or perhaps your nads, to see if they do sting.
Ok, maybe not the nads, but then again the skin on your nads might not be amenable to getting stung as well.
I can attest, an appropriate word, for bluebottle stings going via your nearest lymph nodes.