Went surfing this afternoon and saw what must be a few jellyfish on the beach, need help identifying. It was about size of 1/2 dollar with about the same shape with 1/2 inch purple tenticles all the way around it. Saw about 5 or 6 of them on beach. Dont remember seeing this type before, anyone know what kind they were? I also saw something in water that i will always wonder what it was...one of those "quick glimpses". It was about 25 yards from me, had a yellow and blue? color to it. I think it had squid/jellyfish type body, it was big, maybe size of average person. It all happened so quick that i didnt get as good a look as i would have liked. Its movements were "bobbing". BUT as soon as i spotted it, i was out. Buddy (that i told to get the h*** out the water i just saw something), talked me back into water. 1 hour and and after drifting a 1/2 mile down the beach, my buddy saw same thing "bobbing" but it was different colors. It was NOT a fish-born and raised here at beach and never seen anything like it-im baffled.
do they have a little bubble at the top?... if so, they aren't technically jellyfish, they are 'portugese man-of-wars'.... and they'll sting your ass!... but they float, and are easy to avoid.... but be carefull, even ones with a baloon about the size of a baseball can have tenticals over 10 feet long... google it.
meant to add that when it "bobbed" it's "top/head" came out of water like a bouy or something-wierd!!!
yo if i see a man of war, im merking dawg. I mean i'm freaking dipping the h*** out. Those things can send you to the hospital for sure and give you a heart attack!
I threw the paper out, but there have been several articles and pictures of the small jellyfish you described seeing on the beach. They are usually not found around here, but we seem to be blessed this year with an abundant variety of marine life
When I was out on Friday, struggling with the wind and chop of Fay, something wrapped itself around my leg. I started screaming like a little girl, but it was only a long piece of the sand dune grass. I've got a little bottle of apple cider vinegar I take to the beach with me in a backpack, that's supposed to help with jellyfish stings.
I don't know what else besides Man-of-wars that have purple tentacles... Yeah, vinegar's good like Scarecrow said... you can also rub sandon the stung area to get the stingers out.. rinse with sea water (not fresh) I got stung like 5 times this summer, man they hurt like crap, but Man-of-wars, I'm don't want to find out what they feel like!
yea i got popped by something about a month ago and its still red and ugly looking and itchy, i think it might be infected...oops
defiently vinegar on it but my sister once got stung by a man of wars she said it hurt like sh:t but i've been stung probably 6X this summer and i just put vinegar on it and go back out surfing. But if you dont have vinegar with you you can just go in the public bathroom and pee on it i once had to it feels just like the vinegar but only do it if you are really desperate.
Man, i got stung by something like a month or go too, and it's still noticeable but it's finally going away... it's itchy!
I think I heard something on the discovery channel about how peeing on it actually doesn't do anything, Here's some stuff on it http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2283933 http://firstaid.about.com/od/bitesstings/f/07_JellyfishPee.htm Yeah, I've got stung twice recently for the first time all summer and they've both felt really itchy. Especially the result of one that felt like it had smaller tentacles.
Manowars are really that bad unless you are small or get hit by a really big one. I got stung about 3 summers ago on both legs. It felt like hot wax for about an hour, and then itches for about a week afterward. My foot was swollen to the point that I couldn't get a shoe on it. It didn't feel good by any means, but it wasn't as bad as some people try to make it. I didn't have a heart attack or have to go to the hospital. Last summer my brother got hit by one on his chest and there is still a scar there.
Peeing on it doesn't work. The idea is that the ammonia in your urine helps, but there isn't enough concentration of it to matter. If you do get stung, find an herd or health store and get something called "Wounded Warrior" ( http://www.woundedwarriorointment.com/ ). The lifeguard that helped me a few years ago had this, and I got some afterward. Its about 15 bucks for a pretty small bottle, but it helped tremendously with the burning and itching.
pfox forgot to mention that the bottom of these small jellies looked like someone slapped a scoop of cottage cheese on em'. very short purpleish-blueish tenticles. and from the top looking down looked like spokes on bycicle wheel. Weirdest thing i ever saw....other than the glowing object we saw that was changing colors. maybe some martians dropped off some these things to freak us out.
and it worked-i was paddling in as fast as i could and i look over and cricha is steadily paddling towards martian creature.
I just think of small waves, jellyfish, sharks and sea monsters as a way of paying your surfing dues.
Maybe it was a by the wind sailor? They're purplish and can easily be mistaken for man-o-wars but I don't think they sting (or if they do their tentacles are still much shorter..). http://www.solpugid.com/cabiota/by_the_wind_sailor.htm I haven't seen any here in Brevard in the past couple months, but in the spring time I saw quite a few.
