A TikToker asked followers for help identifying a sea critter — and boy did he get it.
The Australian, who goes by @julianobayd, discovered the stunningly beautiful creature while exploring the waters off Stradbroke Island in Queensland, and decided to pick it up.
“Anyone know what this is?” he asked in the short video, with the adorable tiny blue and white organism nestling in the tip of his finger:
The clip, which has been viewed more than 18million times, was quickly flooded with commenters pointing out it was a Glaucus atlanticus — AKA the Blue Sea Dragon — a sea slug that boasts a very nasty sting, akin to a Portuguese man o war.
Just touching one can result in severe pain, nausea, vomiting, acute allergic contact dermatitis, erythema, urticarial papules, potential vesicle formation and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
The creature is so badass it even eats other venomous sea creatures — including the deadly man o’ war — and stores its victim’s venom, concentrating it to use on future prey… meaning depending on what it ate, it can deliver a fatal sting to humans.
“this species has an extremely painful sting don’t touch it!!” one commenter warned.
“It’s a sea snail, I’d go to the hospital,” another advised. “one of these bad boys paralysed me as a kid,” a third claimed.
Even people who didn’t know what the hell it was knew not to pick it up. “It’s pretty so probably dangerous,” one sagely advised. “If it’s a vibrant colour, by the law of nature don’t touch it,” another agreed.
Judging by his follow up videos, the oblivious TikToker appears to have gotten lucky … this time.
Although judging by his and his friends’ older videos, their luck is bound to run out at some stage:
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