The Portuguese man-of-war is also known as the blue bottle which is what it resembles while floating. It may look like a pretty colored object drifting while you spend your summer holiday swimming at the beach. But beneath this beautiful object are many tentacles that will give you a sting that will leave a scar on you for the rest of your life. Despite how the man-of-wars look like, it is not a jellyfish, it is a siphonophore. A siphonophore is not a single organism, but a colonial organism made up of many minute individuals called zooids. These zooids are not capable of independent survival.
The name man-of-war comes from the
16th century armed sailing ship called the Portuguese galley. Doesn’t
really look like one in my opinion, it looks so much more like an alien
spaceship that hunts for human brains using long tentacles while it floats
around the sky. Okay, maybe too imaginative. But seriously, it doesn’t look
much like an old century war galley. It loves the warmer waters and is most
commonly found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Pacific and
Indian oceans and in the northern Atlantic Gulf Stream. Man-of-wars like the
galley have no means of propulsion and will just float wherever the tide,
current and wind brings it to. Strong winds may bring them onto beaches. Just
like those jellyfishes at Tanjung Aru Beach, when kids enjoy walking around the
beach looking for an up-turned jellyfish to poke. The man-of-war does not come alone;
it brings all its friends and family together to have a huge sting party. At
some places in the world, the finding of one single man-of-war might lead to
the closing of the whole beach.
Here is a small guide on how to
treat a man-of-war sting that I copied off Wikipedia.
1. To
avoid any further contact with the Portuguese man-of-war and to carefully
remove any remnants of the organism from the skin (taking care not to touch
them directly with your fingers and any other part of your body to avoid
secondary stinging)
2. Next
is to apply salt water to the affected area (not fresh water which tends to
make the affected area worse)
3. Follow
up with the application of hot water (45 Celsius/ 113 Fahrenheit) to the
affected area anywhere between 15 to 20 minutes which eases the pain of a sting
by denaturing the toxins.
4. If
eyes have been affected, irrigate with copious amounts of room-temperature
water for at least 15 minutes. If vision blurs or the eyes continue to hurt, tear,
swell or show light sensitivity after irrigating, or there is any concern, see
a doctor as soon as possible.
It is known that vinegar does not
work for the man-of-war stings, not only that, it adds up to the pain as well.
So never use vinegar unless you’re asking to visit hell for more excitement.
Also make sure to identify whether the sting is from a man-of-war or a
jellyfish to avoid the wrong treatment.
The Portuguese man-of-war is a
carnivore, feeding on small fishes that it paralyzes with its venomous tentacles.
Preys include the loggerhead turtle, which has skin that is too thick for the
sting to penetrate. The sea slug (Glaucus atlanticus) and the violet snail
(Janthina janthina) also feeds on the man-of-war. The blanket octopus is immune
to the sting and younger specimens carry broken off tentacles of the man-of-war
presumably for offensive or defensive purposes. Lastly, the ocean sunfish also
loves munching on the man-of-war. There is also one small fish called the
man-of-war fish that lives among the tentacles of the man-of-war. It is
partially immune to the stings. It tends to avoid the larger tentacles but feed
right off the smaller ones. Other marine life such as the clown fish also
resides under the tentacles. This in turn attracts other fish that eats the
smaller fish and without it knowing, got trapped in the dangerous tentacles of
the man-of-war. So this is how friendship works in the ocean.
So next time you think the ocean
is polluted with shiny blue, pink, purple-ish rubbish, think again, you better
start swimming to shore.
1 comments:
Well stated! Have lived in FL for 71 years and know these beasties well.
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