The Deadly Portuguese Man O' War | Blue Planet II | BBC Earth

Fun fact: many of these animals have never even been to Portugal, are not in fact men, and lack any sort of military experience.

The fact that a group of Man O’War jellyfish isn’t referred to as an ‘Armada’ is a travesty.

One time I was swimming off a beach on the East coast of Florida and the winds were incredible. I had no clue at the time that the purple flag at the lifeguard tower meant “jellyfish spotted”. Apparently the winds had blown in the Man o War to the shore. When I was swimming a wave washed one over me and the underside of the head planted on my back and the tentacles wrapped around my ribs. The pain was immediate and I fell and spun to get it off. Unfortunately when I spun the underside of the head hit me in the armpit. Most immense pain I have ever felt. Every muscle in my body was locking up when I made it to the life guard tower. Lot of the tentacles had detached on my back and were stuck there until the life guard let me into their shower. My vision even went weird for a while. Not like blacking out, but everything was wavy.

When the audio starts & you recognise Sir Attenborough's voice, you already know it's gonna be an interesting and beautiful documentary. I wish it was longer 😢

I’m amazed that he can speak so clearly when he’s in the water

0:43 I was working as a deckhand for a ship in Alaska and every now and then you would come across a group of these moon jellyfish. One night I went outside and noticed the ship was surrounded by these things, must have been tens of thousands however the amazing thing was the 4 rings on their back which were glowing orange/pink and their bodies which were blue. It was one of the most beautiful and surreal things I have ever seen. I even saw the northern lights and im not sure which was more magical.

I’m always struck by how gorgeous the photography is in this series. Those shots of the jellies were stunning. Really interfering stuff.

Yep, been stung twice. By this very animal. One thing to keep in mind is that tentacle that have fallen off the jellyfish can still sting; that was what happened to me the second time. I got stung by a loose tentacle that wrapped itself around my wrist. The first time I was very young, and I saw a dead Man o war on the beach. Of course, to a sic year old this was a cool shiny blue thing, so I made the wise choice of digging in the sand right next to it. I did know basics about jellyfish, so I knew don’t touch the long ouches near its butt. Unfortunately the tentacles it still had were extremely thin and practically invisible, which is another thing to keep in mind: just because you can’t see the tentacle doesn’t mean it is not there. I got stung on the ankle 😕 Be safe everyone.

The ocean is so alien it amazes me everytime

david attenborough is a force of nature himself... and still with us at 95 years old. (2021)

If the earth were to face an extreme world wide calamity, I want this man to deliver the news to all of us

I was diving once around the corner from Manly Beach in Sydney. On surfacing and taking my reg out, I copped a Portguese Man'o'war (or blue bottle as we call them here) across the face and neck. Distinctly remember begging at the kitchen door of a local restuarant for some vinegar to help with the sting. Not that it did much. Good times.

As a teenager I was out surfing with my brother, now when you're surfing you have this band on a string, that is attached to the board, around your ankle. I had just entered the water so it was just hanging loose under the board, but sometimes brushing up against my leg. After a couple minutes the brushing became annoying and it felt like the string had wrapped itself around my leg. I pulled the string up and put it on the board with the band, but the feeling remained, quick note: At this point there was still no pain. I couldn't figure it out so I went back to shore, when I stepped out of the water I saw what had happened. One of these jellyfish had wrapped itself around my leg. Most of the times when people get attacked by them the tentacles can be removed by rubbing them off with sand, not with me. They were all tangled up around my leg and so the coastguard had to remove them one by one using pincers to untie the knots that had formed. I had never been in so much pain in my entire life, and it didnt go away for what felt like an eternity. 1/10 do not recommend

I love how the rays from the sunlight reflect off its tentacles and makes it look like electricity flowing through them.

I've seen thousands of these little blue creatures that had drifted to the shore once. Honestly, they looked like something you would see in a scifi movie like Avatar.

I was stung by a large one of these while surfing - I was paddling and accidentally placed my arm directly into it, it immediately wrapped around my arm and hand with its “bell” planted just under my armpit, I had to take it off with my other hand and threw it away from me, but it stung my other hand hand face on the way out - it hurt more than I could imagine, but if you keep your heart rate down (because the “stings” are actually venomous barbs) and immediately bathe the area in white vinegar it really helps.

Quick fact: Although it superficially resembles a jellyfish, the Portuguese man o' war is in fact a siphonophore. Like all siphonophores, it is a colonial organism, made up of many smaller units called zooids. All zooids in a colony are genetically identical, but fulfill specialized functions such as feeding and reproduction, and together allow the colony to operate as a single individual. [Wikipedia]

“That’s got to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen”

Every time I see a Portuguese Man O’ War I am astounded by the fact that it’s a real creature.

I got stung surfing here in Qld Australia once. I had a tentacle wrapped around my thigh and I thought it was fishing line so I went about freeing myself and a few seconds later the pain set in. It was quite painful for maybe an hour and I ended up with welts on my leg and hands but nothing too bad. By the evening I was fine but the welts on my skin lasted about a week I think.