Portuguese man-of-war

[25931]

There have been warnings in the Portuguese press that a large number of these dangerous animals have been washed ashore in the Algarve and are rather dangerous if touched.

 

[shan]

Nasty nasty sting.

 

[AndrewB]

And it's persistent. Once when in mid-Atlantic we were surrounded by a huge swarm ("Look like purple johnnies", said SWMBO). I scooped one up in a bucket and then, curiosity satisfied, threw it back - careful not to touch.

A month later I got the bucket out again for a job, and as I put my hand inside I was stung! Quite a nasty rash, lasted a few days.

 

[BobnLesley]

Nasty nasty sting.

A Master of the understatement:
We met a young lady in Linton Bay (Panama) recently who'd got some really unpleasant/red/angry/painful-looking scars and welts across her arms and back from an encounter with one. I was even more appalled when she told us that the incident had been ten months ago!

 

[LittleSister]

There have been warnings in the Portuguese press that a large number of these dangerous animals have been washed ashore in the Algarve

Shock news!! Portuguese men-of-war found in Portuguese waters!

Among the interesting info on them on Wikipedia:

Despite its appearance, the Portuguese man o' war is not a true jellyfish but a siphonophore, which, unlike jellyfish, is not actually a single multicellular organism, but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals (of the same species) called zooids or polyps.[3] These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated, to the extent that they are unable to survive independently, and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal.​

 

[Roberto]

We met Ben, a UK swimmer who tried to swim the Atlantic from Dakar to Brazil (his website/fb page was something like swimthebigblue) he swam near one of those jellyfish and was stung, his team said they had never seen anyone so near to death, half-way between unconsciousness and delirium during a couple of days; they abandoned the attempt and he eventually recovered; horror stories really.

 

[GHA]

Strong argument for having your anchor snubber running along the deck to the stern, not in the water..

 

[KellysEye]

Perhaps they swam ashore to go sunbathing ;-)

 

[Mikedefieslife]

Sunscrean or any other barrier prevents jellyfish stings. I wonder since these aren't jellyfish if it works with them?

I'm always wary about just diving in and swimming in the sea. There are all kinds of creatures just waiting to get you. I remember diving of the bow in Mallorca, only to spot jelly fish just below the surface. You've never seen someone move so quickly to get of the water.

 

[Neeves]

Strong argument for having your anchor snubber running along the deck to the stern, not in the water..

Another strong .......(I thought in the interest of calm discussion I would not mention the next word)

+1

And another even stronger reason for not swimming in the dark.

Jonathan