Man of war jellyfish on beach
One species found in New Zealand’s deep sea, Praya dubia, is known to reach lengths of 60 metres-more than half the length of a football field.
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The individual units of a siphonophore colony-the zooids-are highly modified for particular tasks: catching food, digestion, swimming or reproduction.ĭeep-water siphonophores specialise in catching fish larvae and crustaceans, and their colonies can reach enormous sizes. They belong to a group called siphonophores, an order of marine gelatinous animals in which each individual is actually a colony of genetically identical, highly specialised animals. The nematocysts are used only once-after discharge they are digested along with the prey they helped kill.īluebottles are not true jellyfish, although they do belong to the same animal phylum, the Cnidaria, along with sea anemones and corals. Bluebottle venom is powerful, capable of paralysing fish as large as the jellyfish itself. The strength of the poison varies with the species. On contact with their prey-plankton and fish-bluebottle tentacles discharge thousands of microscopic poison-tipped harpoons called nematocysts. Like other jellyfish, bluebottles are predators. Of course, bluebottle tentacles and stings are not designed merely to inflict human misery. Deaths have been recorded in the northern hemisphere from contact with these giants, though probably due to allergic reactions rather than the toxic effects of the venom itself. The “Piha monsters” of this summer past are small fry compared to tropical Atlantic specimens, whose floats reach 25 centimetres across and whose wafting tentacles can be up to 20 metres long. He believes there is only a single worldwide bluebottle species, Physalia physalis, but that it varies greatly in size.
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Were the jellyfish involved in these incidents a new species in New Zealand’s seas? Phil Pugh, an English expert on world siphonophore jellies (of which the bluebottle is one), thinks not. Instead, he recommended pouring cold, fresh water on to the stung flesh and applying an ice pack. Acid can make things worse by causing even more of the bluebottle’s stings to be discharged, he said. Peter Fenner, an Australian physician and researcher on the clinical aspects of jellyfish envenomations, advised against the traditional remedy of applying vinegar to the affected area. Symptoms reported in other cases included chest and stomach cramping, swelling and the inevitable welts where skin had come into contact with tentacles. In one case a man was rushed to Auckland Hospital with breathing problems, apparently due to an allergic reaction. The stings were severe by New Zealand standards, often affecting the whole body rather than just a localised patch of skin.
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With eight centimetre floats (more than twice the size of normal bluebottles) and tentacles approaching two metres in length, these big jellies were described in newspaper and television reports as a rare and distinct species, the “Pacific man-of-war.” Their sudden appearance in the shallows off popular swimming beaches soon exacted a significant human toll, with many dozens of stings reported from the Auckland west coast. Thousands washed ashore along the upper west coast of the North Island, having been blown landwards by persistent summer winds. Reports came from as far south as Otago, although the most spectacular accumulations were seen further north. This summer will be remembered by many for the large numbers of stinging bluebottles (Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish) that appeared in the surf and on the shores of many New Zealand beaches.Īt the height of the Christmas–New Year holiday break the media ran hot with stories of swarms of abnormally large bluebottles.