More Portuguese man-of wars are washing up on SC beaches. ‘Steer clear,’ state warns
Headed to the beach to start the summer? Keep an eye out for shiny blue creatures that look like jellyfish — they pack a powerful sting and have been showing up on beaches from Florida to North Carolina, officials say.
Strong winds are pushing Portuguese man-of-wars ashore, the South Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources said.
“You should steer clear of these highly venomous relatives of jellyfish both in the water and ashore, as even a dead man-of-war has a sting strong enough to sometimes require medical attention,” DNR said in a Facebook post.
“Fortunately, the bright blue ‘float’ of a man-of-war makes them easy to recognize and avoid,” the department said.
“Typically a resident of the open ocean, these fascinating animals (which are not actually one creature, but four types living together in a colony) are occasionally pushed ashore by strong winds,” according to DNR.
A man-of-war looks like “an 18th-century Portuguese warship under full sail,” the National Ocean Service said.
They have a float that looks like a balloon with a sail sticking up above the waterline and can be blue, pink or violet, according to the National Ocean Service.
Man-of-wars have tentacles that “grow to an average of 30 feet and may extend by as much as 100 feet” under the water they use to sting and kill small fish, NOS said.
“For humans, a man-of-war sting is excruciatingly painful, but rarely deadly,” according to National Geographic.
Man-of-wars can’t move by themselves. Instead they are pushed around by currents and winds on the open ocean, National Geographic said.
This story was originally published June 10, 2019 at 8:51 AM with the headline "More Portuguese man-of wars are washing up on SC beaches. ‘Steer clear,’ state warns."
