Blue dragon: myth or reality?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

What do you associate the phrase "blue dragon" with? Some of you will imagine a beautiful giant mythological creature with two wings, iridescent blue scales and a fire-breathing mouth. Perhaps you will see in front of you some huge Chinese snake with a mane, fangs and horns, which flies only with the help of its magical power. And some will give their imaginary blue dragon an aquatic essence, sometimes destroying ships sailing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

An interesting fact is that real blue dragons actually feed on Portuguese boats. Only now the dimensions of such dragons are much smaller than in our fantasies. And the Portuguese boats are not boats at all, but a colony of small jellyfish that coexist together. And one more fact: the blue dragon is a mollusk.

The creature, reaching an average of 3-4 centimeters, is actually an indirect savior of man, because the jellyfish that the blue dragon feeds on are dangerous to us. They contain deadly poison. Jellyfish often live in flocks on crowded shores around the world, therefore they become moremore dangerous. Although the blue dragon is much smaller than its food (the bubble of the Portuguese man-of-war can reach thirty centimeters), it can still easily resist their poison. The mollusk transforms the poison of its "enemies" into its own defense mechanism: it deposits a deadly substance on the tips of its "wings". It is worth noting that the dragon is not at all dangerous for people.

Unfortunately, seeing blue dragons is an insurmountable difficulty. Our saviors live in rare places off the coast of Australia and America. But sometimes they are accidentally washed ashore by waves, and some are thrown onto land.

The "wings" of the blue dragon are necessary for him directly for swimming, just like the mythological creature of the same name needs them for flight. The blue dragon swims belly up, sticking to the water surface from the inside. His belly is painted dark blue - this helps the dragon to hide from the attack of predators from the air, and the back has a silver color - this saves him from predatory fish. The blue dragon clam is also found in other colors, such as yellow and green, but this is more the exception than the rule.

Miracles happen not only in myths, sometimes nature creates magically beautiful creatures. Unfortunately, most of the insanely beautiful creations of nature are hidden in places that are inaccessible to humans, for example, on the tops of mountains, at the extreme pole, deep underground and in the depths of the seas and oceans. But nature does wonders andaround us, we just got used to them and take them for granted. And you just need to stop the crazy movement of life for a minute and look around. Then you will see the leaves blooming in the spring, the snow caps on the trees in the winter, the variegated colors of the leaves in the fall. Who knows, maybe that blue dragon that you imagined at the beginning flies among the clouds. Or maybe he lives nearby in the river? Look around.