Sometimes Portuguese boats get into the Gulf Stream and are carried by this current to the English Channel. When they accumulate off the coast of England and France or, for example, near the beaches of Florida, television, radio and the press warn the population of the danger.

The "Portuguese boat" is not even one jellyfish, but a colony of one or two hundred jellyfish and polyps. The colonies of the boat look like unusually elegant balls, often drifting across the surface of the ocean in whole "flotillas". From time to time, the boat dips the float into the water so that the membrane does not dry out.
(www.examen.ru)
The poison of the physalia is very close in its action to the poison of the cobra. The introduction of even a small dose under the skin of laboratory animals ended tragically for them. This poison is unusually resistant to drying and freezing, and the tentacles of the siphonophore, which had lain for six (!) years in the refrigerator, perfectly retained their deadly properties.
(old.vesti.ru)
Despite the toxicity of physalia, some sea turtles eat them in huge quantities. People, of course, do not eat physalia, but they also find use for them. Farmers in Guadeloupe (Caribbean) and Colombia use the dried tentacles of physalis as poison for rats.
(www.examen.ru)
... there is a representative of the sea kingdom, to whom physalia is not only not an enemy, but, on the contrary, a necessary companion (although friendship is understood here in a very peculiar way). This is the tremoctopus violaceus octopus. He calmly cuts off the poisonous threads of the "Portuguese boat" and winds them around the four front "arms". Now the octopus is armed, dangerous and extraordinarily beautiful (of course, from the point of view of the octopus). The tentacles of the physalia do not harm him, but serve as an excellent means of attack.
(www.hiking.ru)

Amazingly beautiful creation of nature - portuguese boat(physalia) - as dangerous as it is attractive. In order not to get burned, it is better to admire them from a distance.

And, one might say, there is something to admire: above the surface of the water, the “sail” gently silvers and shimmers with blue, purple and purple, similar to those that adorned medieval ships. His top, crest, is bright red, and Bottom part, from which long, sometimes up to 30 meters, trapping tentacles depart, blue.

Portuguese boat - a jellyfish or not?

It must be said that although this creature and close relative jellyfish, but it still does not apply to those. The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, a primitive invertebrate organism. It is a colony of four types of polyps coexisting together. Each of them performs the function assigned to it.

Thanks to the first polyp - a gas bubble, the beauty of which we admire, the Portuguese boat keeps afloat and can drift in the waters of the ocean.

Another polyps, dactylozoids, are trapping tentacles, along the entire huge length of which poison is injected into prey. Small fish, fry, crustaceans die from it immediately, while larger ones experience paralysis. By the way, even when dried, the tentacles of the Portuguese boat remain very dangerous for humans.

Thanks to the trapping tentacles, the caught prey is dragged to the third type of polyps - gastrozoids, which digest food by breaking down proteins, carbohydrates and fats. And the fourth type - gonozoids - perform the function of reproduction.

Amazing flotilla

The Portuguese boat can only be moved by the current or the wind. In the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic or Indian oceans, you can find a whole flotilla of physalia that look like elegant inflatable toys.

But sometimes they "deflate" their bubbles and dive into the water to avoid danger. And they have someone to fear: despite the poisonousness, the boats serve as a coveted prey for some species of animals. So, for example, (loggerhead, bighead turtle), moonfish or yantina) can significantly thin out the ranks of "sailboats".

But the shepherd fish lives among the long tentacles of the physalia as a freeloader. The poison does not affect this fish, but it reliably protects against numerous enemies, and the shepherd boy feeds on the remnants of the patron's prey and the dead tips of dactylozoids.

"Medusa" Portuguese boat is dangerous as a cobra!

The ship is especially dangerous for children and the elderly, as well as for those who suffer from allergic reactions. A painful swelling forms at the site of the burn, and muscle cramps may begin. The victim has a fever, chills, nausea and vomiting.

Don't wash the affected area fresh water it will only make the pain worse. But vinegar can neutralize the poison of physalia. Therefore, they are treated with burns, after scraping the skin to remove the remnants of stinging cells.

But best of all, having seen a flotilla of glamorous "sailboats" from afar, leave the water as soon as possible, admiring them from afar. Alas, this beauty is scorching!

portuguese boat(lat. Physalia physalis) is a type of colonial hydroid from the siphonophore order, the colony of which consists of polypoid and medusoid individuals.

This intestinal creature is often called a jellyfish, however portuguese boat not a jellyfish, but a siphonophore - a colony of intestinal animals. The composition of such a colony includes polypoid and medusoid individuals living as a single harmonious organism. Portuguese boats are very common marine animals - they can be found in almost all warm-water areas of the oceans and seas - from latitudes Japanese islands to Australia and New Zealand. Sometimes the winds drive such masses of these intestinal-cavity organisms to the shore that it seems that the coastal waters are covered with colored jelly.

The dome of the Portuguese ships is very beautiful, and usually shimmers with blue-lilac colors with purple-red tints. Its length along the "body" can reach 20-25 cm, but the usual dimensions are more modest.

The unusual name - "Portuguese boat" (sometimes - "Portuguese warship") owes the siphonophore to the shape of its sail-dome, rising above the surface of the water. Indeed, it is very reminiscent of military sailboats of the 15th century, which plowed the seas during the time of Henry the Navigator.

The trunk of a colony of cormidia (zooids) departs from the dome of the physalia. Cormidia are composed of representatives of three types of polyps - feeding zooids (gastrozooids), trapping zooids (dactylozooids) and one sexual zooid (gonozooid).
Each of the dactylozooids carries a tentacle designed to catch prey. The tentacles are able to shrink very strongly in length (sometimes by 70 times!), so the length of the underwater "mane" of the physalia can vary from several meters to tens of meters (there are individual colonies with tentacles up to 50 meters long).

The trapping tentacles of dactylozooids are capable of paralyzing prey with the powerful venom of goads and pulling food up for processing by gastrozooids. Physalia feed on small invertebrates, fish, squid and other marine life.
A formidable weapon of physalia - the poison of the tentacles is very dangerous for many inhabitants of the sea, as well as for people. Fatalities from human contact with physalia is a rather rare occurrence, but dangerous injuries and burns occur annually in many coastal areas where beach holiday And water sports sports.

Helping the poisoned physalia consists in carefully removing scraps of tentacles and treating the contact site with a 3-5% solution of acetic acid. The treatment with fresh water aggravates the condition and intensifies the pain, therefore it is impossible to wash the burn in any case. The victim should be immediately taken to a medical facility to provide qualified assistance - for people in poor health, a close "acquaintance" with the Portuguese ship can be fatal.

A special and very peculiar group of the class Hydroids is formed by the subclass Siphonophores. This word refers to free-swimming colonial coelenterates living in warm seas.
The siphonophore colony is neither a polyp nor a medusa. This is a community of many individuals, some of which resemble polyps, others - jellyfish. Each individual of the colony has its own purpose and structure corresponding to it. All individuals are located on a single trunk of the colony and are interconnected by a single digestive cavity.
The most famous among the siphonophores is undoubtedly the Portuguese man-of-war siphonophore.
Sometimes she is called Latin name physalia (Physalia). The size of the floating colony of physalia is very large. The length of the trunk sometimes exceeds 1 m, and the longest tentacles grow to a length of 10 meters or more.
Main Feature physalium is that the floating colony is not completely submerged in water. A brightly colored gas bubble always rises above the water, keeping the whole organism afloat. Painted in bluish or reddish tones, this gas bubble (in Greek "pneumatophore") also plays the role of a sail, carrying the siphonophore following the sea winds. The gas in the bladder is similar in composition to air and is secreted by special glandular cells.
The “sail” of the Portuguese boat performs its work no worse than a real sail. On the surface of the pneumatophore there is a special comb, its shape resembling latin letter S. Thanks to this crest, the Portuguese boat is not just driven by the wind on the sea, but constantly turns around at an angle to the wind. In practice, this leads to the fact that, after swimming for some time in one direction, the siphonophores suddenly make a coordinated turn and swim in another, sometimes even in the opposite direction.
Similar coordinated maneuvers performed simultaneously big amount siphonophore, reminiscent of the friendly navigation of a flotilla of ships. Hence the name "boat". As for the adjective "Portuguese", the siphonophores owe it to the bright color of the pneumatophores. It was these bright multi-colored sails that were on the masts of the ships of the medieval mistress of the seas - Portugal.
Observations of physalia showed that in the same group of this species there are two forms that differ in the shape of the crest. Driven by the wind, some of the physalia gradually turn to the right, while others turn to the left. They are called so - right and left physalia.
Each siphonophore colony is a single and very complex organism. Below the pneumatophore on the trunk of the colony, the remaining individuals are located in a certain order.
The so-called swimming bells follow first. These are medusoid individuals, which, pushing water out of the bells, carry out the active movement of the colony. True, the Portuguese ship does not have swimming bells, and they are not needed, since the colonies move perfectly with the help of wind or sea currents.
Below the medusoids, all siphonophores have lactating polyps. These individuals are able to swallow and digest food. Since the entire colony is united by a common digestive cavity, all the food that the lactating polyps swallow is immediately distributed among all individuals.
Loops are placed next to the nursing polyps. This is the name of siphonophore individuals, which have the appearance of a long (sometimes up to 20 m), often even branched tentacles carrying stinging cells. Arkanchiki are designed to protect the colony, as well as to catch prey. Finally, there are individuals in which the germ cells of the siphonophore develop.
Although the venom of the burning cells of the physalia is dangerous for many species of fish, some of them use the tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war for their own protection. Shepherd fish, common in all oceans, spends almost all the time near the physalia or between their tentacles until they reach adulthood. Somehow, these small fish manage to avoid the action of stinging cells, and they react poorly to physalium poison.
Although the Portuguese boats are very beautiful, it is not recommended to pick them up. The burn from stinging cells is very sensitive to humans. There are several cases when physalia became the cause of death of people. Even individuals thrown ashore continue to be dangerous. Those who have been attacked by physalis have described the action of the burning cells as being like a blow. electric shock.
sailboat

Previously, zoologists ranked the sailboat as a siphonophore, because these animals lead similar image life. However, later scientists decided that these single floating organisms are a separate detachment of the Hydroid class.
Sailboats are animals of tropical and subtropical seas. They live only in those seas and oceans, the water temperature of which does not fall below 15 ° C.
Like the Portuguese boat, the sailboat is passively carried by winds and currents. Its strongly flattened body resembles an oval, the long axis of which in adults reaches 10–12 cm. On the upper side of the body there is an elegantly shaped vertical plate - the "sail". Like the Portuguese boat, the “sail” is somewhat curved, and therefore the sailboat does not sail straight under the influence of the wind, but turns from time to time.
The upper side of the body of the sailboat is covered with a chitinous membrane and bears a gas bubble - a pneumatophore, which supports the animal on the surface of the water. On the lower surface, submerged in water, there is a mouth opening and many tentacles surrounding it.
Tentacles help sailboats find and catch prey. These coelenterates feed on the larvae of various animals, small crustaceans, fish fry and almost all components. marine plankton organisms.
Sailboats often form huge aggregations. Sometimes in some place in the ocean you can swim several kilometers, constantly observing sailboats to the right and left of the sides. When all this mass is moved by the wind, there is a feeling that a huge flock of animals is swimming.
Unlike jellyfish, sailboats do not go deep before a storm approaches. They fearlessly rush along the raging waves, and if the water turns them over, they immediately take the correct position again.
An amazing feature of the biology of sailboats is their cohabitation with many marine organisms. Floating on the surface of the water like small rafts, defenseless sailboats are used by other animals for rest, resettlement, protection from enemies, reproduction and other purposes.
The most terrible roommate for a sailboat is the predatory snail Yantina. Having found a sailboat, she settles on the underside of his body and gradually eats him almost entirely. Only a chitinous skeleton remains of the sailboat. And the predator, meanwhile, is looking for a new victim, since sailboats live in large clusters. In order not to drown during the search, the snail builds its own raft from the foam it secretes.
In addition to yantina, other predatory mollusks, such as nudibranch mollusks eolis and glaucus, are not averse to profiting from a sailboat.
The remains of the sailboat still float on the surface of the water for some time and are populated by new "tenants": hydroid polyps, small sessile crustaceans, bryozoans, sea ​​worms, shrimp. Crustaceans also sometimes try to eat sailboats.
As on rafts, small crabs from the genus Planes travel on sailboats. Aquatic predators simply do not see such passengers from the water column. When crabs need food, they move to the underside of the body of sailboats and try to hunt or simply take food away from the owner.
A floating sailboat can serve as a convenient place for some fish to lay eggs. One of the flying fish, for example, places its eggs on the underside of the body of sailfish.

There are many poisonous animals and microorganisms in the world. Often they seem beautiful and you just want to touch them. One of these interesting creatures the globe is a physalia that is found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. They can be found even in the English Channel. With its appearance, it is very reminiscent of jellyfish, which are found in abundance in the seas of our country.

Physalia - a jellyfish or not?

Physalia is a colonial hydroid from the siphonophore order. Outwardly, it is very similar to a jellyfish, but it is not. It belongs to another group of invertebrate organisms - siphonophores.

In total, there are about 160 species of this order in the world, which live mainly in tropical waters. jellyfish physalia it is one of the species that are dangerous to humans and can even lead to death.

Physalia - danger, poison

The usual size of the physalia is up to about 35 centimeters, while the stinging tentacles, which contain stinging cells, can reach incredible size- up to 50 meters. It is these cells that are the most dangerous in the colony. Their venom is similar in composition to cobra venom and can cause fever, shock, and difficulty breathing in humans.

A person exposed to poison in water can drown from pain shock or loss of consciousness. They are dangerous because they move in large colonies that can easily devastate everything in their path.

Physalia: description of the Portuguese boat

Physalia is named after Dr. Marie Physalix, who first discovered and described it. Physalia (Portuguese boat) consists of two sections: siphosome and pneumatophore.

A pneumatophore is a bubble filled with atmospheric air that allows the body to stay on the surface. If necessary, excess air is removed and the poisonous physalia is immersed in water. Groups of zooids depart from the pneumatophore, which are divided into 3 types:

Gonozooid - sexual zooid;
Gastrozoids - nourishing;
Dactylozoids are trapping. It is in them that the tentacles are located, which branch out. It is in them that the development of reproductive cells occurs, which then separate from the maternal individual and begin an independent life.

Their main diet consists of small fish, larvae and squid. Physalia itself makes up the diet of some of sea ​​turtles and shellfish.
The life span of an individual is several months. breeds jellyfish physalia asexually. Physalia moves with the help of wind and current. However, with the help of the siphosome, it serves as a rudder and is able to regulate the direction of the colony and move even against the wind.

Poisonous Physalia in Phuket

They are found predominantly large groups numbering in the thousands. The pneumatophore of the jellyfish resembles a small sail, for which the name Portuguese boat is often found. This name was given by sailors in the 18th century.
Physalia is found in tropical seas and is often found in the vicinity of Phuket and neighboring beaches, where they are brought by the monsoons blowing from May to October in those parts. At this time, it is more dangerous than the garbage dumped into the sea, which then forms in.

In September-October 2016, 4 beaches were even closed in Phuket for 2 weeks. This was due to the fact that they were found in in large numbers- more than 400 individuals. Fortunately, there were no human casualties.
The photo shows the habitat of physalia.

Physalia poison: how to protect yourself

In case of contact with physalia, it is recommended to see a doctor. There is a lot of conflicting advice regarding first aid for a burn. These can be washing with sea water, vinegar, hot water followed by ice application.

If physalia were found on the surrounding beaches, it is recommended to refrain from swimming during this period. Often they are thrown ashore, so you should carefully walk along the beaches so as not to get on one of them. Even separately lying tentacles, which also cause burns, are dangerous.