A bather located the specimen that is not typical of the Mediterranean Sea
The discovery of a new specimen of a blue dragon (Glaucus atlanticus) in our waters, specifically on the beach of La Mata in Torrevieja, can once again be described as extraordinary .
What is surprising is that blue dragons are mollusks of tropical origin and not at all common in the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, when the last specimens were found on our coasts in the summer of 2021, there had been no record of this species for more than three hundred years. species with this geographical location , according to the study and scientific article in which the municipal biologist of Torrevieja, Juan Antonio Pujol, worked.
Crónicas Naturales de Torrevieja reports that the new appearance of the blue dragon took place this past August 16 when a bather located it alive on the shore and handed it over to the Torrevieja City Council lifeguard service managed by the Eulen company. In addition, that day, they also found a blue snail (Janthina spp.), one of the species that the blue dragon preys on.
Unfortunately, the found blue dragon died shortly after and is deposited in the department of Zoology of the University of Murcia. The appointment is already registered in the Biodiversity Data Bank of the Valencian Community.
First described in 1705
The blue dragon was first described by the German-Polish physician and naturalist Johann Philipp Breyne in 1705 after identifying some specimens collected south of Ibiza. Until August 2021, there would be no record of the eight blue dragons that appeared on the coasts of Guardamar del Segura, Orihuela and Torrevieja. Subsequently, another one was also observed in Jávea and in the spring of this year 2023 there is graphic evidence of another one in Italian waters.
The arrival of the blue sea dragon in the Mediterranean is due to the fact that it has been dragged by the Atlantic currents as it is a small mollusk that lives floating on the surface of the sea. Other characteristics of blue dragons is in their diet, since they feed on organisms that also live floating on the surface of the sea and are capable of concentrating in their tissues the stinging cells characteristic of the species they consume, such as the Portuguese man-of-war.