Blue dragon: myth or reality?

With what do you associate the phrase "blue dragon"? Some of you will present a beautiful giant mythological creature with two wings, blue iridescent scales and a fire-breathing maw. Perhaps you will see a huge Chinese snake with a mane, fangs and horns that flies only with the help of its magical power. And some will give their imaginary blue dragon the essence that lives in the water, sometimes destroying floating in the wrong place and not at that time ships.

An interesting fact is that the real blue dragons actually eat Portuguese boats. Only here the size of such dragons is much less than in our fantasies. Yes, and Portuguese boats - not boats, but a colony of small jellyfish that coexist together. And one more fact: the blue dragon is a shellfish.

The creation, reaching an average of 3-4 centimeters, is in fact indirectly the savior of man, because the jellyfish that feed the blue dragon are dangerous for us. They contain a deadly poison. Jellyfish often live in packs on crowded banks around the world, because they become even more dangerous. Although the blue dragon is much smaller than its food (the bubble of a Portuguese boat can reach thirty centimeters), it can still withstand their venom calmly. The mollusk transforms the venom of its "enemies" into its own protective mechanism: it lays the deadly substance on the tips of its "wings." It is worth noting that for people, the dragon is not at all dangerous.

Unfortunately, seeing blue dragons is an insurmountable difficulty. Our rescuers live in rare places near the coasts of Australia and America. But sometimes they accidentally nail waves to the shores, and some throw them on land.

The "wings" of the blue dragon are necessary for him directly for swimming, in the same way as for the mythological creature of the same name, they are needed for the flight. The blue dragon floats belly up, sucking to the water surface from the inside. The abdomen has a dark blue color - this helps the dragon escape from the attack of predators from the air, and the back has a silvery color - this saves him from predatory fish. The blue dragon mollusc also occurs in other colors, for example, yellow and green, but this is more an exception than the rule.

Miracles happen not only in myths, sometimes nature creates magically beautiful beings. Unfortunately, most insanely beautiful creations of nature are hidden in hard-to-reach places, for example, at the tops of mountains, at the extreme pole, deep under the earth and deep in the seas and oceans. But after all, nature works wonders around us, it's just that we are used to them and take them for granted. And you just need to stop the crazy movement of life and look around for just a minute. Then you will see the blossoming leaves in the spring, the snow caps on the trees in the winter, the colorful colors of the leaves in the fall. Who knows, maybe, among the clouds and flies that blue dragon, which you represented in the beginning. Or maybe he lives nearby in the river? Take a look around.