Boa Noite all, that’s good evening in Portuguese, thought that would kind of go with tonight’s photo.  This is a deadly Jellyfish called a Portuguese Man-O-War or Man-of-War.  Here on the island these are known as “the Blue Bottle” or “the Blue Bubble”, I call them “floating trouble”!!  As you can see this is a spectacular object to behold.  While it may look something like other well-known jellyfish, with its conspicuous float and trailing tentacles, according to scientists the man-of-war is NOT a true jellyfish (true jellyfish are those that belong to the class Scyphozoa).  Furthermore, the man-of-war is not a single animal.  It is actually a colony of numerous organisms called polyps (or zooids) that are so specialized that they cannot live without each other.  Four main types of polyps make up the man-of-war.  One individual polyp becomes the large gas filled float (pneumatophore) that sits horizontally on the surface of the ocean.  The float can be up to 15 cm above the water and is generally translucent, tinged with pink, purple or blue.  The other polyps become the feeding tentacles (gastrozooids), the defensive/prey capturing tentacles (dactylozooids) and the reproductive polyps (gonozooids).  The tentacles of the man-of-war can hang down in the water 165 feet (or 50 meters), that’s a scary thought!!  Our dolphin trainer Zenzi had a run in with one of these a few months ago and it sent her to the hospital.  She was just sitting on one of our floating platforms with her legs in the water during a dolphin swim and suddenly felt a sharp sting on her leg!  She immediately jumped up and saw a very small Man-of-War completely stuck to the side of her leg and did not have anything to remove it with.  She ended up having it on her leg for around 2-3 minutes and by the time they got it off she started to go into shock!  She told me days later that at the time it was hard to breath and her hands started to cripple up and was unable to speak or move!  If you come into contact with one of its tentacles while swimming, you may get a painful sting from the nematocysts.  Similarly, a washed up man-of-war on the beach (even if it looks dried out) remains highly venomous: it should be treated respectfully and care should be taken to avoid touching the tentacles.  If you are stung, the latest medical research suggests carefully removing (with gloves on if possible) any noticeable tentacles from the afflicted areas and then rinsing the area with plenty of lukewarm fresh water until the stinging sensation becomes lessened.  Ice can help numb the affected area for pain relief.  It has been suggested by lifesaving groups in Australia that applying alcohol may worsen the sting by making any remaining undisturbed nematocysts discharge.  If the sting is severe, seek medical assistance.  Keep the victim calm and watch for signs of shock or further distress as jellyfish stings may bring on cardiac or respiratory arrest.

 

Have a great day tomorrow, thanks for all the wonderful notes, we read and re-read them all!  Bye, Barry