Blue dragon: Beaches closed in southern Spain over poisonous sea creature

Tourists have been warned not to enter the sea on the Costa Blanca in southern Spain after a poisonous sea creature was spotted.

Swimming was banned along a seven-mile stretch of coast around Guardamar del Segura area just north of Torrevieja following the appearance of so-called blue dragons.

Jose Luis Saez, the mayor of Guardamar del Segura, said in a post on X on Wednesday: “Bathing is prohibited following the appearance on Vivers Beach of two specimens of Glaucus atlanticus, known as the Blue Dragon”, adding that people “should stay away from this animal because of its sting”.

However, on Thursday, in another post, he said the warning was now yellow after the ending of what he called a “special surveillance operation”.

Sky News has contacted Mr Saez to ask if local beaches have reopened.

Otherwise known as Glaucus atlanticus, it’s a type of sea slug, or nudibranch, that feeds on the deadly Portuguese man o’ war and other venomous creatures.

Australian Geographic said the “dazzling blue creature absorbs the stinging cells from its food and stores them in concentrated doses, giving it a far more potent sting than its prey.

“Typical symptoms of the blue dragon’s sting include nausea, pain, vomiting and acute allergic contact dermatitis”.

Sea slugs normally live on the sea floor, but blue dragons “swallow a little air bubble, which allows them to float on the ocean surface but means they’re at the mercy of the weather” and often get blown ashore by strong winds.

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Measuring typically “3cm or just over one inch in length,” according to One Earth, the “ornate” creatures are found on the surface of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world.

“The blue dragon stores the man o’ war’s stinging nematocysts within its finger-like appendages, making itself equally venomous to predators,” One Earth said.