A shockingly handsome sea slug washed up in Australia last week

A mysterious video emerged online last week of what appears to be a small dragon-like creature washed up on the sands of the Australian Gold Coast. Known as aBlue Dragon, or Glaucus Atlanticus, this little guy is actually a sea slug. These slugs are known to biologists as Glaucus atlanticus, and they’re not frequently seen because they spend their lives floating through currents far out at sea, as The Dodo reported.

It takes a lot of courage to go up against the venomous Portuguese man o’ war – a creature that sends even humans bolting out the water – but the blue dragon is up for the challenge.

The blue sea slug can reach sizes of just 1.2 inches in length when fully matured. In fact, all that poisonous peril is purposefully harvested from other creatures, such as the Portuguese man o’ war.

Blue Dragon survives by eating another risky creature, called Portuguese man o’ war, the floating terror whose tentacles can grow up to 30 feet long. The Blue Dragons are generally found off the coasts of Australia, South Africa and Europe.

The blue dragons have developed an interesting tactic when it comes to feeding on the cnidarians that also helps them out later on. The venom is concentrated in the tissue of Blue Dragon, which is then used by Blue Dragon for its own defense and to become more venomous than the man o’war. As a result, humans handling a blue dragon could easily end up getting a powerful sting.