Aguavivas in Miami in the middle of winter

Aguaviva, bad water, false jellyfish or Portuguese caravel. Many names are given to these organisms which covered the beaches of the on Florida and cause a lot of discomfort. They do not contaminate, they do not cause permanent damage, but the poison in their tentacles strongly irritates the skin and makes the day pleasant. beach in miami become a nuisance.

The tentacles contain poison that irritates human skin.
The tentacles contain poison that irritates human skin.

They are typical of the spring or summer season, as they live in warm waters all over the planet. However, in this very windy winter in South Florida where the sea currents were particularly agitated, the aguaviva they came in large numbers on the sand, changing the beach photography.

Technically they are called Physalia physalis and they are a monotypic colonial species of siphonophore hydrozoan, which simply means that they are organisms that live in a colony and each of them specializes in something to maintain it. They have a gelatinous sail between 15 and 30 centimeters, which allows them to float and move with the winds, since they do not swim. Long tentacles extend from the body, which when stretched can add up to 50 meters in length, which they use to hunt prey. And that’s where the problem is for people.

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In the tentacles of jellyfish there are pungent capsules that can paralyze a large fish, and if they come into contact with human skin, they can seriously irritate it. Even out of the water, already dead, the tentacles can still be toxic to humans, especially children.

The so-called false jellyfish do not swim, but float, getting carried away by the wind and currents.
The so-called false jellyfish do not swim, but float, getting carried away by the wind and currents.

The municipality of Vizcaya key issued a public warning for those who visited the beaches last weekend, in which they warned against the presence of these organisms. Similarly, in Palm Beach County, there has been a tremendous amount of aguavivas in the last few weeks.

If you come into contact with the tentacles, the only recommendation is to throw vinegar on the skin, which is rarely brought to the beach. Generally, it is usually recommended to clean with fresh water, ice or even urine, but according to the medical recommendation, all of these substances can aggravate the irritation, causing more poison to come into contact with the skin. .

Although very infrequent, there have been cases of death from contact with the poison of aguasvivas. Most people are in a lot of pain, but it’s not a life-threatening situation.

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