15 January 2015
Broward County, Florida
Hey they’re not jellyfishes, they’re Portuguese Men-of-War.
Today, this afternoon, they’re out in force. The beaches are full of them. They are pretty beautiful but you don’t want to get stung. Even though they are not that big, their tentacles can stretch 20 feet, sometimes even up to 100 feet.
As much as I’ve swam in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, I’m lucky to never have been stung. The welt is supposed to be very painful, and in some cases the venom travels to the lymph nodes which hits you even harder. With all our weather it’s high season for men-of-war again.
Men-of-War live out in the Gulf Stream. They have no ability to propel themselves, or even want to come in to shore, but their azzes just float wherever the wind blows them.
During the winter months, when stormy weather brings heavy winds from the East or Southeast, they wash in.
1,020 stings were reported in Miami Beach in 5 days starting Christmas Day.
Check this out — did you know that each man-of-war is not a single animal but somehow 4 different animals all working together? The gas-filled sail, the tentacles which sting and snatch up small animals to eat, and the digestive and reproductive organs.
I have nothing to say except the ocean is weird.
I love how green the water looks under the gray sky. And the bright purple of just-washed-up men-of-war mixed in with green strands of seaweed and massive clumps of not-yet-rotting brown sargassum weed. I won’t think about the bits of plastic trash. I took this picture strategically in a clean spot so we could just feel the wild healthy ocean. Today I will just love the Atlantic and be part of thousands of years.
Here’s some recent info on Men-of-War if you want.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/fl-portuguese-man-of-war-20151229-story.html
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/weather/theyre-purple-poisonous-and-on-our-beaches/npsnb/
