Happy Year of the Dragon

Last Updated (Tuesday, 17 January 2012 17:25) Written by Raymond Nakamura

This is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese horoscope. My interest in astrology is only why people believe in such things. Still I find dragons, both Eastern and Western, a wonderful meme. I decided to look into ways they have influenced our naming of actual living things.

Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus undatus)

I'm not sure which comes first, the dragon or the egg, but these fruits originally from central America, look like they might hatch into dragons, a little bit like the ones in Game of Thrones. Have you ever had one? I think they look more interesting than they taste.

Dragon tree (Dracaena)

Dragon fruit does not grow on dragon trees, however. This tree from Africa gets its moniker for producing a resin that looks like dragon's blood.

Dragonfish (Gobioides broussonetti)

This scavenger, has a big mouth and a long body with spikes down its back, so it does resemble an Asian style dragon. It lives in warm Atlantic estuaries from the southeastern States to Brazil. It is also called the Violet Goby, but dragonfish probably sells better in pet stores.

Sea Dragons

These come in a few species, including Leafy (Phycodurus eques) and Weedy (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), are related to seahorses and native to the ocean off southern Australia. These slow moving creatures could not behave in a less dragon-like way, but they do look interesting with all the camouflaging frilly bits hanging off them.

Dragonflies (Anisoptera)

Most people know about the adult dragonflies, but their aquatic larvae are perhaps even more dragon-like, with their Alien-inspiring extendable jaws and pointy jet propulsion posteriors.

Dragon Lizards (Agamidae)

Many of these Australian lizards have beautiful colours and the bearded ones have spikes around their heads that make them sort of dragon-like. You can find a funny YouTube video of someone's pet beard dragon playing Ant Crusher on an iphone.

Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis)

Living on a few islands in the South Pacific, they only became known to science after World War I. They don't fly or breathe fire, but they can reach over 3 m in length, and are the heaviest lizards in the world, so they are not to be taken lightly. They never brush their teeth and the bacteria in their mouths, in addition to actual venom can be worse than their bite.

Do you know of any other dragon inspired living things?