Do not touch them, even if they look dead and all dried up. If you see one, either on the beach or in the water, there are bound to be more.
Thus, when they are in the Puerto Penasco area strong breezes directed toward shore, combined with the tides, drive them into the surf and up onto the beaches.Īs a general rule of thumb, you can assume that there is never just one Portuguese Man O' War. The Man O' War has no means of self-propulsion, but is moved by a combination of winds, currents and tides. Note that the creator of this video advises that as a precaution if you are intending to do any swimming during this time it is a good idea to wear a T-Shirt to minimalize the areas in which they can come in contact with your skin. These creatures are infamous for swarming in huge groups and for their painful stings.Ĭlick on this link to see a short YouTube video of a Man O' War in the water (viewed from below at a safe distance). Its trailing blue tentacles are often as long as 30 feet or more, and they are poisonous. The float can be anywhere from a couple of inches up to 12 inches in length, depending on the species, and can rise out of the water as much as 6 inches. It lives at the surface of the ocean, with its float above the water, serving as a sail, and the rest of the organism hanging below the surface. This sail is translucent and tinged blue, purple or mauve. It has an air bladder (known as the pneumatophore or sail or float) that allows it to float on the surface of the ocean. I put "jellyfish" in quotes because they aren't really jellyfish at all, but you can find out more about that a little further down in this post, following some instructions on what to do if you get stung.Ī strange half-invisible creature, the Man O' War’s translucent, bluish-purple body sac makes it difficult to see in the water. While the man o’ war’s sting is rarely deadly to people, it packs a painful punch and causes welts on exposed skin.īeachcombers be warned: The stalwart man o’ war may still sting you even weeks after having washed ashore.This is the time of year (late June/early July) when the Agua Mala, aka Portuguese Man O' War, "jellyfish" tend to wash up on the beaches in Puerto Penasco, occasionally by the thousands, littering the sand from Sandy Beach all the way down the coast. The tentacles contain stinging nematocysts, microscopic capsules loaded with coiled, barbed tubes that deliver venom capable of paralyzing and killing small fish and crustaceans. Lurking below the float are long strands of tentacles and polyps that grow to an average of 10 meters (about 30 feet) and may extend by as much as 30 meters (about 100 feet). Resembling an 18th-century Portuguese warship under full sail, the man o’ war is recognized by its balloon-like float, which may be blue, violet, or pink and rises up to six inches above the waterline. Found mostly in tropical and subtropical seas, men o' war are propelled by winds and ocean currents alone, and sometimes float in legions of 1,000 or more! Each of the four specialized parts of a man o’ war is responsible for a specific task, such as floating, capturing prey, feeding, and reproduction. A siphonophore is unusual in that it is comprised of a colony of specialized, genetically identical individuals called zooids - clones - with various forms and functions, all working together as one. The Portuguese man o’ war, ( Physalia physalis) is often called a jellyfish, but is actually a species of siphonophore, a group of animals that are closely related to jellyfish. Image credit: Elizabeth Condon, National Science Foundation The Portuguese man o’ war is recognized by its balloon-like float, which may be blue, violet, or pink and rises up to six inches above the water line.