Portuguese Men of War – Greg Laden's Blog https://gregladen.com/blog Wed, 06 Jan 2016 14:48:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 https://i0.wp.com/gregladen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Greg_Ladens_Blog_Favicon_black_GLb.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Portuguese Men of War – Greg Laden's Blog https://gregladen.com/blog 32 32 77525483 Florida Beaches Invaded By Portuguese Men-of-War https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/06/florida-beaches-invaded-by-portuguese-men-of-war/ https://gregladen.com/blog/2016/01/06/florida-beaches-invaded-by-portuguese-men-of-war/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2016 14:48:23 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21993 Continue reading Florida Beaches Invaded By Portuguese Men-of-War →]]> Warm waters around Florida have resulted in a growth of the population of Portuguese Man-of-War, or should that be Portuguese Men-of-War, an organism commonly confused with jellyfish (because they look just like jellyfish).

The PMOWs have a sting, roughly equivalent in pain level to a bee sting, and best treated at such. Do not urinate on your PMOW sting (save your urine for an actual jellyfish sting).

There are reports of many PMOWs washing up, with numerous swimmers suffering stings. The stinging tentacles, even after they fall off, are a hazard, and barefoot beachcombers can accidentally step on them. Many Florida beaches have warnings in effect.

Sea Surface temperatures in florida are high:

Screen Shot 2016-01-06 at 8.43.36 AM

And relatively high compared to historical data (images from Google Map with Climate Reanalyzer overlays):

Screen Shot 2016-01-06 at 8.46.34 AM

Photograph above by Julia Laden, taken this morning.

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