Portuguese Man O’ War – Even on the Gold Coast of Australia

February 4, 2009 by Kimberly

portuguesemanowar The Portuguese Man O’ War is found all over the world, including every warm water seas, but especially in tropical or subtropical regions of the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as the Northern Atlantic Gulf Stream.

What’s very interesting about the man o’ war is that it’s not just 1 animal.

It’s actually 4 different animals with different abilities and disabilities, which makes each part of the man 0′ war absolutely dependent upon the others.

They like to hang out at the surface of the ocean, due to the air-filled sac or air bladder that they use as a sail and to float - that’s why it’s sometimes called the blue bubble or blue bottle.

The sail is tinged blue, purple or mauve, and can be up to 30 cm long and up to 15 cm out of the water. The group of animals secretes a gas into the sail for flotation, but it must stay moist, so can submerge itself or roll to keep wet.

This is also handy, as if they are attacked, they can release the gas and submerge to stay out of harm’s way.

As you can see, they have tentacles that dangle below in the water, which is most often about 1 meter long, but can reach up to 150 feet long…Whoa! That’s about 50 meters for those who use the metric system.

Each one of their tentacles has venom-filled stingers, which help the man o’ war catch fish continuously, called nematocysts. Then, they have special cells that contract and release, and contract and release to drag the prey up towards their digestive polyps. Really amazing.

However, there are some fish that live symbiotically with man o’ wars, as they are immune or nearly immune to their sting.

Many people think Man O’ War are jellyfish, and they are not. This is important to note and be able to decipher, as if you’re stung by one, the treatment is much different that with that of a jellyfish.

If you find one on the beach, it usually means there are thousands nearby, as they swarm together.

manowar-pd Stay away from them though, as they give an extremely powerful, painful sting! In fact, they’ve been known to close entire beaches down due to their presence.

Their sting can kill small fish and shrimp. However, for a human to be stung by one is excruciatingly painful!

As mentioned earlier, there are some fish immune to their venom, and believe it or not, blue bubbles have predators too.

Loggerhead turtles have skin that is too thick to be affected by the venom and often feed on them. Sea slugs and violet snails make meals out of man o’ wars slowly, but surely. Also, female blanket octopi will rip off the tentacles and later use it for protection against their predators.

This means that the tentacles, even though separated, retain their stinging abilities. Therefore, if they wash up on the beach and look or are dead, they are still very poisonous and can really hurt you!

They leave red, whip-like welts on your skin lasting about 45 min. However, if that venom happens to make it to your lymph nodes, there will be much more intense pain that lasts a lot longer.

You never know, but you could be allergic to the venom and have other different effects such as fever, shock and trouble with your heart and lung function. People have died from stings, although very rare occurrences.

* Tip: When removing animal from your body, if you are stung, use another instrument, so as not to sting your fingers and hands as well, intensifying pain and problems. Find a stick or something else to use.

Immediately flush area with salt water, not fresh water. Follow that up with hot water around 45 C or 113 F because that will make the poison less potent.

Then, you need to apply an ice pack, which keeps the swelling down and reduces the activity of the toxins in your body. This will in turn slow the speed of the venom moving through your body as the cold will constrict blood vessels.

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I hope you enjoyed this Invertebrate post on Exotic Animal Lover during Great Barrier Reef Month! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards