The Psychedelic Medusa is a deep-sea hydrozoan that is abundant in the North Pacific. The mini-jelly is found at depths between 1000m to 3800m, and are often observed drifting near the ocean floor. It also has an eccentric reproduction behavior uncommon in cnidarians. The females display viviparity, and carry the babies in her bell until they are ready to hatch.
This is a Portuguese Man O’ War, a hydrozoan that is often called a jellyfish, and more importantly, can sting just like one. Their venom is incrediblypotent, and both severed tentacles and dead specimens can inflict painful stings. In the bestcase scenario, their sting will cause excruciating pain and long, open welts for a few days. In the worst case scenario, their sting can cause fever and shock, or allergic reactions, which have been known to result in death. You should neverdirectlyhandle a man o’ war, especially not with bare hands in a cup like this.
If you are stung by a man o’ war, immediately seek medical attention. Common “household remedies” like vinegar can actually worsen stings, and there is no way to tell how someone will react to a sting.
This is a Portuguese Man O’ War, a hydrozoan that is often called a jellyfish, and more importantly, can sting just like one. Their venom is incrediblypotent, and both severed tentacles and dead specimens can inflict painful stings. In the bestcase scenario, their sting will cause excruciating pain and long, open welts for a few days. In the worst case scenario, their sting can cause fever and shock, or allergic reactions, which have been known to result in death. You should neverdirectlyhandle a man o’ war, especially not with bare hands in a cup like this.
If you are stung by a man o’ war, immediately seek medical attention. Common “household remedies” like vinegar can actually worsen stings, and there is no way to tell how someone will react to a sting.
Equally as important: Apparently this person picked up the man o’ war to save it because the strong wind kept pushing it back on shore.
Don’t bring wildlife in distress into your home if you don’t already have experienceworking with it. You are most likely not saving it. If you don’t know the amount of salinity, oxygen, filtration, or nutrition necessary to keep a siphonophore alive and healthy, and if you can’t even tell the difference between a sick, healthy, live, or dead individual, don’t try to play hero.
In order to save this man o’ war, the person would likely have to release it at an entirely different beach. These animals can be “right handed” or “left handed,” depending on which direction they angle their float while drifting, and, depending on wind direction, animals with either handedness may be more likely to beach themselves. Because they have no way to change directions, but just float around somewhat passively, it’s believed that this handedness is an evolutionary advantage so only parts of the population may get stranded.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you are walking your dog or just going for a swim on the beach, especially in California by Ventura and the very popular spot near Main Street then stay away from the areas of beaches with lots of floating seaweed.
Man o war jellyfish float around like they don’t have a care in the world so large seaweed patches that float on the surface of the water are a perfect place for them to latch onto and get tangled in, especially since they eat smaller organisms which reside in that seaweed. So when large amounts of seaweed start to wash in they also get beached along with it.
Pets like to smell dead things or basically anything that peaks their interest. I have had to stop my dog multiple times from just touching one of the thousands of these exact jellyfish that can wash ashore.
But this can also happen with regular moon jellyfish too. So just watch out. If you see something that looks squishy and shiny on the beach then please, do not touch or swim up to it, no matter how much you might want to.
This is a Portuguese Man O’ War, a hydrozoan that is often called a jellyfish, and more importantly, can sting just like one. Their venom is incrediblypotent, and both severed tentacles and dead specimens can inflict painful stings. In the bestcase scenario, their sting will cause excruciating pain and long, open welts for a few days. In the worst case scenario, their sting can cause fever and shock, or allergic reactions, which have been known to result in death. You should neverdirectlyhandle a man o’ war, especially not with bare hands in a cup like this.
If you are stung by a man o’ war, immediately seek medical attention. Common “household remedies” like vinegar can actually worsen stings, and there is no way to tell how someone will react to a sting.
Equally as important: Apparently this person picked up the man o’ war to save it because the strong wind kept pushing it back on shore.
Don’t bring wildlife in distress into your home if you don’t already have experienceworking with it. You are most likely not saving it. If you don’t know the amount of salinity, oxygen, filtration, or nutrition necessary to keep a siphonophore alive and healthy, and if you can’t even tell the difference between a sick, healthy, live, or dead individual, don’t try to play hero.
In order to save this man o’ war, the person would likely have to release it at an entirely different beach. These animals can be “right handed” or “left handed,” depending on which direction they angle their float while drifting, and, depending on wind direction, animals with either handedness may be more likely to beach themselves. Because they have no way to change directions, but just float around somewhat passively, it’s believed that this handedness is an evolutionary advantage so only parts of the population may get stranded.
