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Invasion of the jellyfish

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treesparrow:

Headline -

Portuguese Men o'War invade Med for the first time in a decade

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/portuguese-men-owar-invade-med-for-the-first-time-in-a-decade-1677120.html

Radagast:
The article you linked reeks od  tabloid sensationalism - after reading it  one might get an impression real invasion is on the way and also there is a hint  that you will surely die if stung by PMOW. In fact more people die every year from complications of bee stings then from encounters with this species. There are only few  recorded cases of death caused by PMOW or its Australian relative Blue Bottle. One of these cases involved swallowing of the blue bottle which is much smaller then its northern relative.

These organisms prefer open waters of deep ocean and it is very unlikely they will settle in Mediterranean as the article implies.

Last but not least  Portugese Men Of War is not a jelly fish it is macro-holoplankton or to be more precise floating hydrozoan colony, made up of four polyp types, each contributing to different function in the colony: pneumatophore (float), dactylozooids (tentacles for defense and prey capture), gastrozooids (feeding), and gonozooids (reproduction).  Talking about a team work! ;)

treesparrow:

I thought the article worth noting not for the obviously sensational aspects but perhaps because it was indicative of the effects of what rapid climate change (cooling rather than warming) might be having on an animal population. In this specific example maybe changes in ocean currents/ temperatures or wind directions ( slightly speculative granted). Unusual changes in any species distribution, population numbers or behaviour, I think, are worth paying attention to. Maybe I should  have not been so lazy and commented on this in first post. :)

Laura:
I agree that is was worth noting.  I didn't see it so much as sensational (the UK Independent is not a tabloid) as just the way science news is normally presented for the consumption of the average reader.  It's usually never very accurate but close enough. 

Finally, if you have ever been in an encounter with a Portuguese Man o'War, you might wish you were dead ... I was and did so wish and have never gone in the water at a beach since (over 25 years) without trepidation.  In fact, I avoid beaches and prefer swimming in pools.

Radagast:

--- Quote from: treesparrow on May 14, 2009, 08:38:12 PM ---
 Maybe I should  have not been so lazy and commented on this in first post. :)

--- End quote ---
Well that's always the best choice - not to be lazy, but we are all guilty of it one time or another :)

I am aware Independent  is not a tabloid, however the article indeed has the tabloid flavor.
Here is an example of more balanced reporting :

--- Quote from: Guardian ---The Portuguese man-of-war invertebrates, with their sometimes lethal stings, have made an unusual visit to Mediterranean waters off southern Spain. The water is usually considered to be too warm for the jelly like creature with it's burning sting which in extreme cases can cause heart attacks to people who are allergic to them...

Scientists said that westerly winds have blown the invertebrate through the Straits of Gibraltar and along the length of the southern coast of Spain. "They go wherever they are driven by the wind," Xavier Pastor, of the Oceana NGO organisation, explained. "They have little sails and that means that, if the wind is blowing in towards the coast, they end up on the coast."

They have been seen off the coast of Malaga and the Costa del Sol a few weeks ago. Latest sightings show them to also be around Murcia. Pastor said that there did not appear to be enough of them to form a permanent colony in Med., but warned of dramatic consequences to tourism if they did. "It would be a big problem for the tourist industry and for swimmers," he said. "This is far worse than having jellyfish."

The man-of-war has tentacles reaching up to thirty metres in length, which are strung with stinging capsules which survive even if they are broken off. The capsules contain small triggers which release the stings when touched and hang below a pink-tinged blue bubble that acts as the sail.
--- End quote ---

It seems the headline of The Independent article is outright lie as this PMOW Mediterranean excursion- not invasion, is NOT the first time in a decade:

"Given the importance of beaches to the Spanish economy, jellyfish swarms are regularly reported in the local press in summer. Despite these warnings, hundreds of people are stung every day up and down the Spanish Mediterranean. 11,571 people were attended by health authorities last year in Valencia alone. Probably the commonest jellyfish in the Spanish Mediterranean is a nasty little one called the Sea nettle or Mauve stinger ('medusa luminiscente' Pelagia noctiluca). It swarms can lead to beaches being closed. Also beware of the Compass jellyfish (Chrysaora hysoscella), identified by a ring of brown dots around a white saucer-shaped body, as it gives a potent sting which can produce extremely painful, long lasting weals. More worryingly, in 2005, dozens of Portuguese Man-o-war (Carabela portuguesa - Physalia physalis) were detected off the Asturian coast among swarms of harmless Velella velella. The purple Man-o-war is not a true jellyfish, but a colony of hydrozoan polyps. It can in extreme cases provoke a cardiac arrest and death in particularly sensitive persons."

    * News 01/07/2006 Jellyfish numbers to increase in Spanish Med, and Portuguese Man O'War may be on their way (El Mundo/CSIC).

FWIW :boat:

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