One blue dragon (Glaucus Atlanticus), a kind of seafront was found dead on a beach of Peruíbe, a city located in Baixada Santista, coast of São Paulo. The rare animal was caught by biologist and researcher Gemany Caetano last Sunday (6).
According to the professional, the pelagic mollusk, that is, who lives in the open sea, has vibrant shapes and colors and appears on the beaches when the wind and the sea currents are directed to the coast.
The biologist states that the blue dragon is an animal with a body adapted to the marine environment and does not move in the earthly environment. “When he stuffed in the sand, he suffers direct action of the sun’s rays and winds that contribute to the water loss process, which causes dehydration of the animal,” he adds.
According to Gemany, the Blue Dragon plays an important role for maintaining and balanced the environment, as well as other species. “Glaucus in particular is a charming animal that lives up to the name it carries. It should be preserved so that future generations have the opportunity to know and be enchanted by these animals,” concludes the biologist.
Get to know the rare species
According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (Boem), a US government agency, the rare species floats with the back and exposes the bright blue belly while the gray-footed side is down.
Glaucus Atlanticus They are predators with tentacles, called kerata. The limbs contain highly poisonous urticant cells, which are used for hunting and self -defense. However, for the Blue Dragon to have the poison in his body, he feeds only on poisonous animals, such as the Portuguese caravel.
By consuming the prey with its sharp and serrated teeth, the rare animal appropriates the other’s urticant cells and stores them in the tentacles at a more concentrated dosage. With approximately 3 cm in size, the species acquires a violent stroke that allows you to paralyze victims 300 times larger.
Blue-dragon slugs are hermaphrodites, ie they have male and female reproductive organs. However, eggs and sperm are incompatible and then they need to mate with one of it to produce fertilized eggs. The search process for a partner is complicated and is considered a random task, as the blue dragons float until they find another Glaucus Atlanticus.
When they meet, they be careful at mating because of the various poisonous cells. When reproduction is completed, the couple can lay a series of 20 eggs at a time. The litters are placed in pieces of wood that float, in the carcasses of the prey or in anything else that fluctuates. The eggs take about three days to hatch and become larvae.
The blue dragon is commonly found in temperate and tropical waters of all oceans, but its presence has already spread to the east and southern back of Australia and to the waters of South Africa. It occasionally floats in groups and this phenomenon is called the “blue fleet.” According to the agency, beach pickers need to be careful when finding them, because a meeting with a dead-blue-dragon slug can result in bites.
*Under supervision
This content was originally published in a rare kind: Dragon Azul is found dead in Praia do Litoral de SP on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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