SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Tourists and locals alike can sometimes find little clear, pink and blue blobs with long tentacles on the beach throughout the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry.
Portuguese man o' wars, also known as men-of-war or bluebottles, can be found in tropical and subtropical seas. While mainly known to be blue, they can also be pink or violet tinted.
They have long strands of tentacles and polyps that grow to an average of 30 ft. and may extend by as much as 100 ft. The tentacles deliver venom that can paralyze and kill small fish and crustaceans.
Their sting packs a punch, especially if their tentacles wrap around a limb, but stings are rarely deadly for humans. Like most jellyfish, it's safest to avoid them since they can still sting you even after they are dead.
Even though they may look it, they aren't jellyfish. Instead, they are siphonophores which are closely related to jellyfish.
"A siphonophore is unusual in that it is comprised of a colony of specialized, genetically identical individuals called zooids — clones — with various forms and functions, all working together as one," theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.
Men o' war are propelled by winds and ocean currents and in some instances, they can float in legions of 1,000 or more.
Floating in legions is partially why they were named men o' war. The Portuguese man-of-war’s prominent physical feature is its gas-filled bladder on its top that looks like the sail of a ship and serves as both a float and a sail.
Their main feature resembles a class of warships that was developed in Portugal beginning in the 15th century, called a man-o-war, that efficiently harnessed the wind, according toBritannica.
