Blue Sea Dragon and Blue Button

Table of Contents☰

Why in News?

These deep-sea creatures could get pushed to shore sometimes due to a storm or some oceanic conditions.
The recently-hit Cyclone Michaung would be the reason why Blue Sea Dragons and Blue Buttons were thrown off the Chennai coast.

About Blue Sea Dragon

Also known as the blue angel and blue sea slug, the Blue Sea Dragon is a unique underwater creature that has the ability to camouflage.
Scientific Name: Glaucus atlanticus
It is a sea slug, a class of marine organisms that are shell-less molluscs with a wide range of colours and shapes.
Distribution: Mostly found throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in tropical and subtropical waters.
Often spotted in deep oceans, Blue Sea Dragons would go in groups, which gave them the name ‘Blue Fleets’.
It would store venom that it consumes from other creatures to inject venom on the foreign bodies they come into contact. But the venom isn’t lethal.

About Blue Button

Blue Buttons, resembling button-like shapes, are not singular organisms but colonies of small predators called hydroids.
These colonies float “passively” along the ocean, “performing specialised roles– stinging and preying, defending the colony from predators, and producing more of their kind.
Scientific Name: Porpita porpita
They are often confused with jellyfish.
Distribution: Found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.
Blue Button has a blue float made of a flat, circular disc with many gas-filled tubes that keep it afloat. The disc is surrounded by tiny blue tentacles.
They have a ‘man of war’ mechanism, which means that they use the tentacles like body parts to sting any foreign body that comes into contact to defend themselves.
Their venom isn’t lethal.

Q1) What is a jellyfish?

Jellyfish are invertebrates that, together with corals, gorgonians and anemones belong to a group called the cnidarians . This animal group has stinging cells which they use both to capture their prey and as a form of defense. Like all members of the phylum, the body parts of a jellyfish radiate from a central axis. Lacking brains, blood, or even hearts, jellyfish are pretty simple critters. They are composed of three layers: an outer layer, called the epidermis; a middle layer made of a thick, elastic, jelly-like substance called mesoglea; and an inner layer, called the gastrodermis.

Source: Venomous Blue Sea Dragon and Blue Button spotted on Chennai beach