Portuguese man-of-war

お盆が過ぎたことを感じさせられるニュースです。むかしイングランドの海岸でMan-of-Warが書かれた看板を見かけたことがありますが，ある意味ひどい名称ですね。greenさん，どうぞ。（UG）

Portuguese man-of-war spotted on Kanagawa beach

With just a few weeks left before September, beach lovers in Japan are trying to sneak in a few last trips to the coast. A late summer trip to the shore means you’ll have to be on the lookout for jellyfish, but the good news is they don’t seem to be out in full force yet.

The bad news, though, is that Kanagawa Prefecture has something that looks sort of like a jellyfish but is even worse, with some people having spotted the Portuguese man-of-war. The Portuguese man-of-war is a colony of interdependent marine creatures that band together to survive and look hideous. Usually, it makes small fish its target, paralyzing and then consuming them. 

They aren’t regular visitors to Kanagawa, but lastweek Twitter users found specimens washed up onshore in Shonan, the prefecture’s most popular string of beaches and recreational coastline. One was largely buried in the sand at Kamakura’s main beach, Yuigahama, and was only spotted because of its eye-catching blue hue.

As you’d expect from its name, the stings from the man-of-war pack a serious punch. The man-of-war can even continue fighting on dry land from beyond the grave, with its tentacles still potent days after death. Aside from leaving painful red welts on the skin, the creature’s toxins can affect the function of the lymph nodes, as well as the heart and lungs, which in extreme, and thankfully rare, cases can even cause death.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/portuguese-man-of-war-spotted-on-kanagawa-beach