It's big, it's blue and it's coming for you! Well, not exactly, because they go where ever the wind and tide take them. The Portuguese Man-o'-War!
The warmer weather is not only attracting Granadinos to the Costa Tropical beaches because specimens of these creatures have been spotted about four nautical miles off Almuñécar beaches, whereas the Granadinos lurk about 50 kilometres inland.
The Zoology Department of the University of Granada has been keeping an eye out for them because last summer one ended up on San Cristóbal beach with no towel or beach brollie!
Yes, the Physalia physalis is often mistaken for a jellyfish, but it’s not, although it does belongs to the same cnidarian-phylum branch (which does sound like something you find up your nose, admittedly).
The Portuguese Man-o’-War is actually a colony of siphonophore hydrozoans. These aquatic organisms join together (each being specialised in a crucial function) to form a superorganism… no, Madam, that is not what a 3-speed vibrator produces.
They comprise of a blue sail-like sac measuring between 15 and 30 centimetres that keeps it on the surface and provides propulsion (pneumatophore); tentacles that detect and capture prey (dactylozooids); a digestive system (gastrozooids), and reproductive organs (gonozooids).
Now, they are not something that you would want to gargle with because their tentacles, which can reach down up to 40 metres below them, although 10 metres is more normal, hurt like buggery as they inject a paralysing toxin upon contact, which can to lead to breathing and cardiac problems in humans.
So remember, if you see one lying on the beach, it’s not a frisbie so don’t pick it up; use your grandchild’s toy shovel if you want to launch it at your dozing husband. Remember; it will gain his attention.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Portugese Man-o-War, Sail, Blue, Highly Dangerous, Tentacles
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