Yesterday I went for a long walk on the beach, because I can do that in January. I noticed the purple flags were up, indicating "Dangerous Marine Life." I wondered what that meant and I soon found out. There were hundreds and thousands of Man O Wars washed up all over the beach. They're the strangest looking things - like blue plastic bottles or inflated blue condoms is really more like it. They almost don't look like something created by nature, but they are, and they can be dangerous even when they're dead, if you step on their tentacles. Yuck. Only in South Florida, I swear.
12 comments:
I swam into one of those off Padre Island in Texas once. It hurt like hell.
Hello, Wide Lawns.
It's amazing to me how something so beautiful can be so deadly.
Also, in New Zealand and Australia. I particularly enjoyed jumping on their spawn as a kid - with shoes on, of course! :P
No fair! Your dangerous dead jellyfish have a nice blue tint. When they wash up on the shore in NC they don't have any color at all.
Oh, we saw them when kayaking in Mexico, and they do hurt really really badly. Wear shoes.
And welcome back. Last post, 46+ comments? you are getting famous.
*shudder* That's a whole lotta hurtin' stuff on that beach.
Oh man! I saw those about a year ago on the Panhandle of FL and I seriously thought they were plant life. No flags were up, so I was picking them up with a shell and tossing them so my dog could chase them. I'm a horrible person.
Hey, we were just in Florida (Ft. Lauderdale area) and noticed these on the beach (along with the purple flags!) and really thought when we saw the first one it was some kind of plastic dolphin toy, then we thought condom (eww) and then realized after we were poking them with things that they were jellyfish (we live in SO. IL. so have no beaches with ocean marine life). Glad we decided against throwing them at each other!
Not just in Florida - Hawaii has tons of them on some beaches. I've never seen them quite that big, though. Those men-o-war (?) in the picture look like they're on steroids.
have you ever poked a dead one with a pin to see if it would deflate?
Fae, they make popping sounds when you step on the bubble part. And they do deflate. As long as you don't touch the stinger, you'll be okay. I used to pop beached man o' war when I was a kid.
We have those in Australia but they are called blue bottles. Yes, an extremely inventive name. Like how we call potato chips "chips" and french fries "hot chips". Yup, we're an inventive bunch. If you are really careful to avoid the tentacles then they are rather fun to pop!
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