Sea dragon exhibit dazzles visitors at California aquarium
(World News Science)

LA JOLLA, California (AP) - At first glance, it looks like a branch of kelp, but then an eye moves among its leafy appendages, and ridges of tiny, translucent fins start to flutter, sending the creature gliding through the water like something from a fairy tale. A Southern California aquarium has built what is believed to be one of the world’s largest habitats for the surreal sea dragons, whose native populations off Australia are threatened by pollution, warming oceans and the illegal pet and alternative medicine trades. The Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego hopes the...