Wildlife officials say a sting from a blue dragon can cause excruciating pain.
Remarkable-looking creatures are washing up by the thousands on Gulf of Mexico beaches but wildlife officials are warning people not to touch them.
Critters called blue dragons appear to look extraterrestrial. Some are comparing them to Pokemon characters.
Wildlife officials say that their sting is excruciatingly painful and can last a full hour. Effects of a sting may also include nausea and vomiting.
The warning comes as spring breakers head to Texas beaches.
One marine biology student was stung by blue dragons Wednesday in Australia.
“It is the most painful thing you can imagine. It feels like knives sticking into you,” Julian Obayd tells Inside Edition.
Obayd was left with dozens of sting marks.
Blue dragons are a rare type of mollusk that sail on the surface of the ocean. They are about an inch long and feed on the toxins of the Portuguese man o’ war.
Blue dragons sting humans when they get scared.
“If people are on the beach during spring break these next couple of weeks and they happen to see one of these washing up, do not touch it. Take photos, admire it from a distance, but do not touch,” marine biologist at Harte Research Institute Jace Tunnell tells Inside Edition.
