Wildlife Spotting

The most common result of contact with the man-of-war - the residual whip-like, red wavy, stringy welts on the skin from contact with the blue tentacle - is a painful papular-urticarial eruption. The lesions can last for minutes to hours, and the rash may progress to urticaria, hemorrhage, or ulceration. Recurrent episodes of urticaria may last four to six weeks at the site of envenomation. (The pathophysiology of sting induced urticaria is that it occurs following release of histamine, bradykinin, kallikrein or acetylcholine resulting in intradermal edema from capillary and venous vasodilation and occasional leukocyte infiltration.) Don't touch this animal, especially its tentacles - even when Physalia is beached and dead. Research has shown that the toxin of the nematocysts remains potent for an extended period of time - even several hours. Curious keiki (children) will want to play and poke them - keep children far away from these potentially, excruciatingly painful creatures.