A shiny blue jellyfish washed up on Hilton Head Island’s seaside close to the north end of Sea Pines Monday afternoon. Some have referred to as it “stunning.”
However, this one comes with a robust warning from Shore Beach Service: “DO NOT contact it.”
The venomous Portuguese man-of-war is also called a “bluebottle” jellyfish and may supply an “excruciatingly painful” sting to humans even weeks after it’s lifeless, in step with scientists at the Photo Ark Project at National Geographic.
“They are included in venom-crammed nematocysts used to paralyze and kill fish and other small creatures. For humans, a person-of-conflict sting is excruciatingly painful but not often deadly,” in line with National Geographic.
Shore Beach Service warned seaside goers that the person-of-warfare’s venom is “a lot more potent” than the typical jellyfish that wash up at the seaside on Hilton Head.
The animal usually extends about six inches above the waterline, however its tentacles can reach 30 to 100 feet underneath its sail-like body, in line with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA and National Geographic additionally report that, even though the person-of-war seems like a jellyfish, it’s simply a species intently related to the jellyfish known as a siphonophore.
“Not simplest is it now not a jellyfish, it’s no longer even an ‘it,’ however a ‘they,’” in step with National Geographic. “The Portuguese man-of-struggle is a siphonophore, an animal made from a colony of organisms operating together.”
This is the first documented man-of-struggle on Hilton Head Island this 12 months, however Shore Beach Service operations supervisor Mike Wagner stated lifeguards spot a few each year on the seashore.
The creature, which Wagner stated become approximately a foot long, turned into buried within the sand by means of lifeguards.
He warned there are possibly to be extra coming our manner.
“Typically whilst we have them, it’s now not like there’s just one,” Wagner said Tuesday. “If we got one, we’d get a dozen greater.”
National Geographic reviews that men-of-warfare can tour in groups of 1,000 or extra in warm waters.
“They haven’t any independent method of propulsion and both float on the currents or seize the wind with their (bodies),” in line with National Geographic.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE STUNG BY A JELLYFISH
If you’re stung by way of a person-of-conflict jellyfish, Wagner stated to flush the edge area with ocean water or warm water.
If there’s any a part of the jellyfish nonetheless in your frame, Wagner stated to eliminate it with a gloved hand or stick — now not along with your naked fingers.
After you leave the seashore, Wagner stated flushing the vicinity with warm water is a superb treatment for any sting.
However, man-of-war stings can motive much greater excessive reactions consisting of welts on the pores and skin, in step with Wagner and NOAA.
“You actually want to display the ones more carefully,” he said Tuesday. “Seeing a doctor with those is probably an awesome concept.”
