Along with the intense heat, came intense sea creatures. Today was another late summer scorcher, getting up to 38C (or just over 100F). Beth texted me at work to let me know blue jellyfish were washing up on the beach in front of our place. By the time I got home, they were a bit dried out and sandy, but I still managed to get these photos. Not the greatest, but you get the idea.
I did a bit of searching around my friend the internet, and found out that these are called Blue Bottle Jellyfish here. You might know them as Portuguese Man of War. The ones in the photos are maybe 10-15cm across. Apparently their tentacle things can get up to 10 meters long. The papers are reporting that several people have been getting stung by these guys lately. Recently, a group of boys in a swim race swam through a school of them.
Despite the vicious sounding name, they only give a mean sting – no imminent death or anything. Apparently they are often in the waters, but the last few days there have been far more than normal. No one seems to know why. Perhaps it has something to do with the unseasonably HOT weather.
Here are a couple more photos. These are all taken at the beach just in front of our place.
Cool! Real Portuguese Man of Wars on your beach. Got to like that. Now you need to get stung at least a little by one so you can say that you have been! Had no idea they are blue. Not that much to look at – reminds me of the game A Boy and His Blob. Does it kind of smell bad with them washing up and dying there? Or not much different.
I did step on one by accident and my toe stung for a bit. Not to bad though, probably cause it was dead and I didn’t get too much of it on me. They don’t smell though.
I haven’t done any fishing in Melbourne. There is a long pier down a bit from us that people fish off of, but I don’t have a rod. I have my reel from New Zealand, but the rod was too big to bring.
Yes it feels really hot. Probably even hotter here because of our lack of air conditioning. There have only been a handful of days when we would have run AC, but last night was definately one of them.
They look cool and disgusting all at the same time. Supposedly, if you get stung by a jellyfish on your foot, you’re supposed to pee on it, or at least that’s what I saw on the show Lost.
Egads, how did I get so far behind in checking out your site?!?
Two posts ago: Louise, you really know your Mulberry stuff! I can tell you know kids, books, authors, and fun! And very impressive how you matched Josh in word count! Very impressive, indeed!
One post ago (or maybe two): Yay for getting your camera back! And very interesting hearing about the economy from your vantage point. Very interesting.
This post: Great opening lines–”Along with the intense heat, came intense sea creatures. Today was another late summer scorcher . . . .” Could be the opener of a Great American Novel. Like Moby Dick. Or Robinson Crusoe. (OK, Clara and Louise, help me out here: Is R.C. American?) And the photos of the jellyfish–the one of the whole beach (giving the broader view) and the awesome up-close one, showing all that color and texure. Very cool. Please do not follow Dad’s advice and purposely get stung. I have heard it can be *very* painful. Ok, so maybe not this kind? I bet the kind doesn’t matter. (Btw, I’ve been polling Jon about annoying mom-isms, and I suppose telling you to not get stung by the jellyfish rates right up there! And notice: I’m not adding a smiley face at the end of that last sentence! ) XOXOX
Comment by Julee Windmiller — March 19, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
Hey Josh, way cool! I don’t know if it was Portuguese or not but it was blue…the Man of War that whipped me when I was 12. We were swimming in Florida and I let out a loud yelp that somthing had just stung me. My dad was sure I was making it up until he got the same treatment. When we got out of the ocean both of us had long welts along our backs and were sore for a while. Lived to tell you about it. ha! The lifeguard gave us first aid and I had something for show and tell when I got back from vacation. Did more telling than showing. I don’t recommend swimming with jellyfish. Your photos are great. I really enjoy your website. I keep watch for the your next one. be cool…
I never imagined a jelly fish to be like this. I’ve just seen pictures of smaller, almost invisible ones–and they were not blue. This one looks gigantic. How does it live when it’s not in water? I need to do some research.
BTW, Peggy: Daniel DeFoe, author of RC, was British.
And Josh, you’ll want to check out a news story on the CNN web site. A woman in a boat off the coast of Florida was killed when a sting ray jumped out of the water into her boat and stung her.
I don’t think they are alive on shore. They most likely die once they are beached.
Crazy about the sting ray. While we were in new zealand, a woman was sun bathing on the deck of a boat and a dolphin jumped out of the water and landed on her. She was crushed and I think died.
How awful. Do you think the sting ray and dolphin situations were ones where the people should’ve known better or like the odds of anything like that happening were one in a trillion?
Ok, I have been sooooo bad about leaving no comments, though I’ve been keeping up with the posts. Josh, all your photos are really wonderful. You have a great eye for color, composition and texture. The Florida woman was killed by the force and weight of the sting ray hitting her in the boat, not by an actual sting. Gorgeous day here…. 79 degrees, I’m headed to Indian Rocks Beach for a walk…..
14 Comments »
Comment by josh — March 17, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Along with the intense heat, came intense sea creatures. Today was another late summer scorcher, getting up to 38C (or just over 100F). Beth texted me at work to let me know blue jellyfish were washing up on the beach in front of our place. By the time I got home, they were a bit dried out and sandy, but I still managed to get these photos. Not the greatest, but you get the idea.
I did a bit of searching around my friend the internet, and found out that these are called Blue Bottle Jellyfish here. You might know them as Portuguese Man of War. The ones in the photos are maybe 10-15cm across. Apparently their tentacle things can get up to 10 meters long. The papers are reporting that several people have been getting stung by these guys lately. Recently, a group of boys in a swim race swam through a school of them.
Despite the vicious sounding name, they only give a mean sting – no imminent death or anything. Apparently they are often in the waters, but the last few days there have been far more than normal. No one seems to know why. Perhaps it has something to do with the unseasonably HOT weather.
Here are a couple more photos. These are all taken at the beach just in front of our place.
Comment by dadman — March 17, 2008 @ 5:10 am
Cool! Real Portuguese Man of Wars on your beach. Got to like that. Now you need to get stung at least a little by one so you can say that you have been! Had no idea they are blue. Not that much to look at – reminds me of the game A Boy and His Blob. Does it kind of smell bad with them washing up and dying there? Or not much different.
Have you done any fishing off the beach there?
Does it feel as hot as 100+ would here? Or not?
Comment by josh — March 17, 2008 @ 10:51 am
I did step on one by accident and my toe stung for a bit. Not to bad though, probably cause it was dead and I didn’t get too much of it on me. They don’t smell though.
I haven’t done any fishing in Melbourne. There is a long pier down a bit from us that people fish off of, but I don’t have a rod. I have my reel from New Zealand, but the rod was too big to bring.
Yes it feels really hot. Probably even hotter here because of our lack of air conditioning. There have only been a handful of days when we would have run AC, but last night was definately one of them.
Comment by Claire — March 17, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
They look cool and disgusting all at the same time. Supposedly, if you get stung by a jellyfish on your foot, you’re supposed to pee on it, or at least that’s what I saw on the show Lost.
Comment by Peg Moore — March 17, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
Egads, how did I get so far behind in checking out your site?!?
Two posts ago: Louise, you really know your Mulberry stuff!
I can tell you know kids, books, authors, and fun! 
And very impressive how you matched Josh in word count! Very impressive, indeed!
One post ago (or maybe two): Yay for getting your camera back! And very interesting hearing about the economy from your vantage point. Very interesting.
This post: Great opening lines–”Along with the intense heat, came intense sea creatures. Today was another late summer scorcher . . . .” Could be the opener of a Great American Novel. Like Moby Dick. Or Robinson Crusoe. (OK, Clara and Louise, help me out here: Is R.C. American?) And the photos of the jellyfish–the one of the whole beach (giving the broader view) and the awesome up-close one, showing all that color and texure. Very cool. Please do not follow Dad’s advice and purposely get stung. I have heard it can be *very* painful. Ok, so maybe not this kind? I bet the kind doesn’t matter. (Btw, I’ve been polling Jon about annoying mom-isms, and I suppose telling you to not get stung by the jellyfish rates right up there! And notice: I’m not adding a smiley face at the end of that last sentence!
) XOXOX
Comment by Julee Windmiller — March 19, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
Hey Josh, way cool! I don’t know if it was Portuguese or not but it was blue…the Man of War that whipped me when I was 12. We were swimming in Florida and I let out a loud yelp that somthing had just stung me. My dad was sure I was making it up until he got the same treatment. When we got out of the ocean both of us had long welts along our backs and were sore for a while. Lived to tell you about it. ha! The lifeguard gave us first aid and I had something for show and tell when I got back from vacation. Did more telling than showing. I don’t recommend swimming with jellyfish. Your photos are great. I really enjoy your website. I keep watch for the your next one. be cool…
Comment by josh — March 19, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
Youch that sounds painful. I’m glad I didn’t end up swimming with any. They seem to be gone now.
Comment by Peg Moore — March 20, 2008 @ 4:37 am
How fun to see and read your post, Jules!
Comment by Clara — March 20, 2008 @ 11:55 am
I never imagined a jelly fish to be like this. I’ve just seen pictures of smaller, almost invisible ones–and they were not blue. This one looks gigantic. How does it live when it’s not in water? I need to do some research.
BTW, Peggy: Daniel DeFoe, author of RC, was British.
And Josh, you’ll want to check out a news story on the CNN web site. A woman in a boat off the coast of Florida was killed when a sting ray jumped out of the water into her boat and stung her.
Comment by Peg Moore — March 20, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
That’s awful about the woman **in a boat** being killed by a sting ray **jumping into** the boat.
Thanks, Clara, for the RC info. I knew you’d either know or put your reference librarian expertise to lightning speed work!
Comment by josh — March 21, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
I don’t think they are alive on shore. They most likely die once they are beached.
Crazy about the sting ray. While we were in new zealand, a woman was sun bathing on the deck of a boat and a dolphin jumped out of the water and landed on her. She was crushed and I think died.
Comment by Peg Moore — March 21, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
How awful.
Do you think the sting ray and dolphin situations were ones where the people should’ve known better or like the odds of anything like that happening were one in a trillion?
Comment by josh — March 22, 2008 @ 1:54 am
Just freak accidents.
Comment by Marti — April 26, 2008 @ 7:14 am
Ok, I have been sooooo bad about leaving no comments, though I’ve been keeping up with the posts. Josh, all your photos are really wonderful. You have a great eye for color, composition and texture. The Florida woman was killed by the force and weight of the sting ray hitting her in the boat, not by an actual sting. Gorgeous day here…. 79 degrees, I’m headed to Indian Rocks Beach for a walk…..
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment