{"id":200417,"date":"2026-03-11T21:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/200417\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T21:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:38:11","slug":"blue-dragons-washing-up-on-texas-beaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/200417\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue dragons washing up on Texas beaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers warned beachgoers not to touch them.<\/p>\n

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Stunning but dangerous sea slugs known as “blue dragons” are washing ashore on Texas beaches<\/a>, the Harte Research Institute warned<\/a> this week, urging beachgoers to admire the creatures from a distance.<\/p>\n

Researchers with the institute spotted around 20 blue dragons (Glaucus atlanticus) washed up along a short stretch of beach. The tiny creatures, which measure only about 1 to 3 centimeters long, can be easy to miss among other washed-up marine life.<\/p>\n

They were spotted on North Padre Island and Mustang Island.<\/p>\n

The institute warned that despite their striking appearance, blue dragons pack a painful sting. The animals feed on Portuguese man-o-war<\/a> in the open ocean and store their prey’s stinging cells, concentrating them in a way that makes their own sting extremely painful. They can still sting even after washing ashore.<\/p>\n

Strong onshore winds are currently pushing an entire community of blue ocean drifters onto the beach. Mixed in with the blue dragons are Portuguese man-o-war, blue buttons, by-the-wind sailors and purple sea snails, a group of oceanographers sometimes call the “Blue Wave.”<\/p>\n

The institute urged anyone who spots a blue dragon to photograph it, but keep their hands to themselves.<\/p>\n

“If you see one, take a photo, but look and don’t touch,” the institute said in its post. “The ocean is amazing, but sometimes the most beautiful creatures come with a sting.”<\/p>\n


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Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at newstips@khou.com or call 713-521-4310 and include the best way to reach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers warned beachgoers not to touch them. CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Stunning but dangerous sea slugs known as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-200417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}