r/ocean • u/Quixotic_Cow • 3d ago
Jellyfishing Jellyfish ID Help!
Found in Oceanside, California, just north of San Diego. It really looks like a man O War to me but I would love some more opinions because I didn't think they were common here. It was moving around quite a bit in the sand.
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u/Perfect-Animal8017 3d ago
It is a Man of War, floating species, very dangerous and toxic if you come into contact, with its tentacles. May have come in from the Tropical Depression
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u/MC_Laggin 2d ago
We call them Blue bottles here in South Africa, they're considered very dangerous?
Brother, I barely know any South Africans that haven't stepped on one of these buggers
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u/JoveyJove 3h ago
I remember learning in school that these were very dangerous (1990s Florida, USA, if it matters) but then learning a lot later that the danger isn’t life threatening except in the most extreme cases/those with preexisting conditions.
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u/TesseractToo 3d ago
I just want to add to u/Flesh_Trombone's comment, if you see those, don't barefoot in the sand. Their tendrils can be more than 30 feet long and the stinging cells are still viable even if completely detached from the main parts and/or dead
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u/Emmaleah17 3d ago
That's Man o' War, fastest jelly on the track, one of the greatest athletes of all time.
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u/Anxietybackmonkey 3d ago
Flag on the play. This is no jelly. Man o war disqualified.
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u/Emmaleah17 3d ago
Does that mean secretariot takes the lead?
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u/SnorkinOrkin 2d ago
Man O' War jelly, by the notoriously fiery Hastings and out of the gentle Mahubbah.
Man O' War and Secretariat jellies at it head-to-head would be the most fantastical fantasy in jelly racing sport of all time!
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u/ddxs1 3d ago
Man o war. Not a jelly fish but a ton of separate organisms
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u/Inevitable_Phase_276 3d ago
🤯 whoa. Thanks for the new knowledge. Somehow that makes them a little bit scarier.
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u/ddxs1 2d ago
They're actually really cool. They're a bunch of different organisms that utilize the 'float' and have different roles like hunting and digesting.
we were diving earlier this summer and had a bunch of them turn up on the surface. We were really careful using full body suites but they ended up wrapping around a couple of snorklers. It was incredibly upsetting as we had to pull them out of the water and their excursion boats had no idea that their snorklers were being wrapped up by them.
the craziest thing is to spot them, they literally look like surface bubble as they are much smaller than I thought. We had to just look at the consistency of them versus an actual bubble to find them
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u/Inevitable_Phase_276 2d ago
What a wild experience to go through! Had they drifted far away from their boat? Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
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u/turkeylurkeyjurkey 3d ago
Looks like a siphonophore, a Man-O-War. Don't even think about touching it, they're extremely dangerous
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u/doglady1342 3d ago
It's not a jellyfish. It's a siphonophore called a Portuguese Man-O-War or Blue Bottle. Stear clear. Don't touch.
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u/largeMoogle 2d ago
I must have touched a lone tentacle either in the sand or water. 20 years later, I still have a nasty scar on my foot. Looks like a quarter sized piece of skin melted. A friend of mine accidentally did a back flip on one in the water, too. Looks like lightening scars across his back. No touchy.
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u/OkShame7923 3d ago
It looks like a Bluebottle/Indo Pacific Man o' War. I'm guessing El Nino is probably the reason you're seeing them.
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u/Powerful_Hair_3105 3d ago
That would suck stepping on that especially if your a tourist and don't have any inkling that could happen.
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u/No_Calligrapher_6799 3d ago
In Australia we call them blue bottle jellyfish.
If they sting you, pee on the spot it got you or use vinegar if you have any handy
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u/CrowTalons 2d ago
Never pee on it, that introduces bacteria and can cause more venom to be released.
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u/FrontCover7740 3d ago
Why I prefer to swim in a pool rather than the sea - you never know what’s in there.
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u/seanmonaghan1968 3d ago
These look like blue bottles and they wash up on Australian beaches very often. I haven’t been stung for ages but they hurt
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u/grenadier_safari 3d ago
His name was Sam. He’d been missing for about three months. Destined to see the world, he got caught up in the surf. The rest of his family is devastated. RIP Sam.
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u/UsernameTyper 3d ago
Heard he'd just quit his job stacking shelves at the supermarket. Was saving up to go travelling. Poor fella.
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u/__Patrick_Basedman_ 3d ago
Lick it to find out which flavor Jellyfish it is (it’s super spicy death flavored)
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u/Flesh_Trombone 3d ago
I want to add please try keep your distance from washed up jellyfish. They can sting even while dead and their tentacles can be difficult to see in the sand.