A surprisingly beautiful creation of nature - the Portuguese boat (physalia) - is as dangerous as attractive. In order not to get a burn, it is better to admire it from a distance.
And you can say that there is something to admire: a sail, gently silvering and shimmering with blue, violet and purple colors, similar to those decorated with medieval ships. Its top, crest, is bright red, and the lower part, from which long, sometimes up to 30 meters, trapping tentacles, is blue.
Portuguese boat - jellyfish or not?
I must say that, although this creature is a close relative of jellyfish, it still does not belong to those. A Portuguese boat is a siphonophore, a primitive invertebrate organism. It is a colony of four types of polyps that coexist 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 is kept afloat and can drift in the ocean.
Another polyps, dactylozoids, are trapping tentacles, along the vast length of which stinging cells are injected into the prey. Small fish, fry, and crustaceans die from it immediately, while larger ones cause paralysis. By the way, even when dried, the tentacles of a Portuguese ship remain very dangerous to humans.
Thanks to hunting tentacles, the caught prey is dragged to the third type of polyps - gastrosoids, which digest food, breaking down proteins, carbohydrates and fats. And the fourth type - gonozoids - perform the function of reproduction.
Amazing flotilla
A Portuguese boat can only move due to the current or the wind. In the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic or Indian Oceans, you can meet a whole flotilla of physalis similar to elegant inflatable toys.
But sometimes they "blow off" their bubbles and plunge into water to avoid danger. And there is someone to fear: despite the toxicity, the boats serve as the coveted prey for some species of animals. So, for example, sea turtles (loghead, head turtle), moon fish or mollusks (nudibranch, yantina) can significantly thin out the ranks of “sailing ships”.
But the cowgirl fish lives among the long tentacles of the physalis as a parasite. The poison does not work on this fish, but it reliably protects against numerous enemies, and the shepherd feeds on the remnants of the protector’s prey and the dead tips of dactylozoids.
"Medusa" Portuguese boat is dangerous, like a cobra!
The boat is especially dangerous for children and the elderly, as well as for those who suffer from allergic reactions. A painful swelling forms at the burn site, muscle cramps can begin. The victim has a fever, chills, nausea and vomiting.
Do not rinse the affected area with fresh water, this will only intensify the pain. But vinegar can neutralize the poison of physicalia. Therefore, they are treated with burns, previously scraping the skin to remove the remains of stinging cells.
But best of all, seeing from afar a flotilla of glamorous “sailboats”, leave the water as soon as possible, admiring them from afar. Alas, this beauty is burning!
