Man o’ war stingers on rise
IT’S enough to make your legs go wobbly! Portuguese man o’war numbers along the UK coastline are increasing.
The species can cause painful whip-like wounds with their stings but rarely venture close to land.
However, a marine wildlife survey shows a two per cent rise in the strange creatures – also called blue bottle – in our waters.
Stranded with them were violet sea snails, which float on bubble rafts and feed on man o’war.
Members of the public reported 1,315 sightings of all kinds of jellyfish to the Marine Conservation Society’s annual review. A spokeswoman said: “Storms in October 2021 and February 2022 led to an increase in Portuguese man o’war sightings, which were up by two per cent from the previous year.
“Although they have a bad reputation, these jellyfish-like creatures don’t normally occur in UK waters, preferring to drift in the open ocean. Sightings were primarily along the South-west coast and Scotland’s west coast.” The MCS regularly records eight jellyfish species, with compass and moon jellyfish each making up 23 per cent of sightings of groups of more than 100.
But 11 different species were reported too, up from five per cent to nine per cent this year.
The spokeswoman added: “Among these were the bioluminescent crystal jellyfish, which made up three per cent of total sightings, and sea gooseberries at one per cent – the highest percentages reported to date.”
Rarely seen crystal jellyfish prefer the waters of the Pacific, “suggesting warmer temperatures may be impacting jellyfish diversity in the UK”.
Eleven turtles, which feed on jellyfish, were also reported.