Look but don’t touch this marvel of the sea.
The Portuguese man o’ war is a rare visitor to Outer Banks beaches, but a small colony of this fascinating sea creature recently washed ashore on Hatteras Island. Writing for the Island Free Press, Kristin Hissong does a marvelous job of describing the what a Portuguese man o’ war is and the role it plays in the ocean. Beautiful to look at but don’t touch.
“Living on the thin, shifting ribbon of sand known as the Outer Banks, many residents encounter a variety of unusual items that wash up along the coastline. For example, back in 2006, a massive amount of bags of chips washed ashore, to the surprise and delight of beachcombers. There are many forces in nature like the wind direction and current flow that make these strange items wash ashore, often in huge amounts.
The clashing of two major currents – the Labrador Current and the Gulf Stream – is what shapes our sandbar, and is one of the major causes of unusual items washing ashore. When the Labrador comes down from the Nova Scotia area and collides with the Gulf Stream of the Caribbean, it can cause all kinds of things to wash up. This past month, one of these oddities that beachgoers discovered on the islands are venomous Portuguese man-o-wars.”
To read the complete story in the Island Free Press click here.