Strange purple creatures were discovered on the coast of the English county of Cornwall.
Local media reported the unusual discovery, citing eyewitnesses. The creatures resemble jellyfish and are even somewhat similar to aliens. However, the situation soon became clearer.
According to messages on the Twitter account published by Cornwall volunteers monitoring the cleanliness of local beaches, so-called “Portuguese man-of-wars” were discovered on the coast.
As it turned out, the poisonous physalia that once lived here has returned to the local waters.
These are close relatives of jellyfish from the order of primitive invertebrate organisms – siphonophores.
The creatures live in colonies, their body length reaches 4 meters. The dimensions of the tentacles are 50 meters.
Next, representatives of the Wildlife Fund commented on the situation. It turned out that they do not know how to move independently; they stay afloat due to a gas bubble, and move with the wind.
They find themselves on the shore after storms.
Physalia, also known as the Portuguese man-of-war, leaves severe and painful burns upon contact with human skin.
After the lesion, a person’s lymph nodes become enlarged, sweating increases, nausea and difficulty breathing appear, as well as numbness in the limbs.
If a creature touches the spine with its tentacles, paralysis and death are possible. Physalia remain poisonous even after death.
