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NY Post
New York Post
22 Dec 2023


NextImg:Hundreds of rare, poisonous sea creatures wash up on beach: ‘Best not to touch them’

Talk about a blue Christmas.

Beachcombers in India were left flabbergasted after a flotilla of indigo-hued, super-rare and venomous sea creatures — most of them dead — flooded beaches near Chennai in the wake of a recent cyclone.

“Hundreds of them had washed ashore,” Srivatsan Ramkumar of the Environmentalist Foundation of India told The News Minute.

The cobalt-colored flotsam mainly consisted of blue sea dragons, which sport wing-like projections, giving them the appearance of a burlesque sea slug.

These were intermingled with blue buttons — disks sprouting trippy cerulean tentacles housing a colony of multiple organisms. Despite the appearance of a jellyfish, they’re only considered a distant relation.

The sighting was unusual given that the sea dragons generally inhabit deep water and are rarely seen on the beach.

Jaunty blue dragons have the appearance of a burlesque sea slug. LeticiaLara – stock.adobe.com

The ultramarine interlopers could’ve been brought to the surface by flooding caused by Cyclone Michaung, which bombarded the state of Tamil Nadu with 23 inches of rain in 48 hours, the Independent reported.

Chennai, Tamil Nadu’s capital, also experienced a massive oil spill during the deluge, although it’s yet unclear if this disaster factored into the blue critters’ beaching.

Either way, wildlife officials claim that “it’s best not to touch” the critters, both of which pack a sting.

The sea dragon, for one, is armed with nematocysts — tiny venom-tipped barbs — which it uses to harpoon any foreign bodies it comes into contact with, a la the similarly-hued Portuguese man’o’war jellyfish.

In fact, this sea smurf actually steals these nematocysts from man ‘o’ war it consumes, much like an invertebrate version of the power-leeching character Rogue from “X-Men.”

They’re notorious among local fishermen, Ramkumar said, for causing skin irritation, rashes and pain.

And while their venom isn’t lethal, it behooves beachgoers to steer clear, per the wildlife official.