Blue Bottles in Maceió, Alagoas

After our excursion to Porto de Galinhas, my family and I visited Maceió, the largest city in Alagoas. The word maceió originated with indigenous tribes in Brazil. It refers to natural flows of water that emanate from soil and either end up in the sea or pool into lakes. Alagoas refers to the lakes, or lagoas, that are abundant in the city and the state as a result (http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Maceio).

During our one full day in Maceió, we headed over to Praia do Francês, a beach which I explored with my sister and cousin. Where the waves ended and left trails of beige foam, we noticed small air-filled sacs with thin threadlike tentacles drying in the sun. These were Atlantic Portuguese men-of-war (Physalia physalis), known as blue bottles in Australia (Physalia utriculus) (Australian Museum, 2010; National Geographic Society). Most were blue, but we also saw a few larger ones with pink and purple hues. The length of their gas-filled bladders, or pneumatophores,  ranged from a couple to about 15 centimeters. My Brazilian cousin called them caravelas, after the caravel, a 15th century sailing ship used by Portuguese adventurers.

A purple Portuguese man-of-war with ~10-cm float and ~75-cm long tentacles

The Portuguese man-of-war resembles a jellyfish, or agua viva (“live water”). While they are both cnidarians, or animals with stinging cells called cnidocytes, there are fundamental distinctions between these two organisms:

	True Jellyfish	Man-of-War
Class	Scyphozoa	Hydrozoa
Lifestyle	Individual	Colonial (individuals called zooids)
Technical Term	Medusa or Polyp (two major life stages)	Siphonophore

 

We probably ran into at least 50 caravelas during our walk along the strand. The nematocysts, or stinging organelles, can remain very potent even after the detachment of tentacles or the death of a Portuguese man-of-war (Auerbach, 1997). Despite the potential danger presented by the colorful stinging strands, we waded into the water with other bathers, keeping a lookout for any sails.

Stranded blue bottle

Holding a bitter message

Popped it right open

Sources:

Auerbach, PS. (1997). "Envenomation from jellyfish and related species". J Emerg Nurs 23 (6): 555–565.

Australian Museum. (February 24, 2010.) “Animal Species: Blue Bottle.” Australian Museum. Retrieved August 23, 2013. From http://australianmuseum.net.au/Bluebottle

National Geographic Society. (1996-2013). “Portuguese Man-of-War.” National Geographic. Retrieved August 23, 2013. From http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war