‘Stunning’ creature with ‘balloon-like float’ spotted on AL beach, officials say
A jellyfish-like creature — resembling an 18th century Portuguese warship — washed up along an Alabama beach, officials said.
“Stranded but still stunning,” the City of Orange Beach Coastal Resources said in an April 9 post on Facebook. “Nature’s beauty comes with a sting!”
Though interesting to look at, the Portuguese man-of-war’s venom can be deadly to small fish and painful to humans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The creature has a colorful “balloon-like float” and long tentacles that can be up to 30 feet, NOAA said.
Man-of-wars are often found in tropical and subtropical waters, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
Commonly mistaken for jellyfish, man-of-wars are made up of a “colony of numerous organisms (called polyps) that live together,” experts said.
Man-of-wars have also recently been spotted on beaches in Southwest Florida, meteorologist Matt Devitt said in an April 8 Facebook post.
“Their stings are pretty painful, lasting up to 1-3 hours,” he warned. “Make sure to avoid!”
Orange Beach is about a 25-mile drive southwest from Pensacola, Florida.
