{"id":240391,"date":"2025-11-02T23:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/240391\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T23:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T23:49:10","slug":"warning-issued-after-venomous-jellyfish-sighted-on-south-wales-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/240391\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning issued after venomous jellyfish sighted on south Wales beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Image: Port Talbot Coastguard on Facebook<\/p>\n

A south Wales coastguard team has issued a safety warning after a sighting of a Portuguese Man O\u2019 War at a local beach.<\/p>\n

Port Talbot Coastguard made the warning via its Facebook page yesterday (1 November) about the venomous jellyfish, found at Aberavon Beach.<\/p>\n

Portuguese Man O\u2019 War, also known as bluebottle jellyfish, are commonly found in warmer seas sometimes in groups of thousands. They drift on ocean currents, meaning strong winds can push them towards the UK coast.<\/p>\n

The coastguard also shared safety advice, should visitors to the beach encounter the jellyfish, writing: \u201cDo not touch them \u2013 even if they appear dead. Their tentacles can still deliver a painful sting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a coastal emergency, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.\u201d<\/p>\n

They added that, if stung, visitors should:<\/p>\n

Rinse the affected area with seawater (not fresh water)
\nRemove any tentacles carefully using a credit card or similar object
\nImmerse the area in hot water (as hot as can be tolerated) for at least 30 minutes to help neutralise toxins
\nSeek medical advice by requesting HM Coastguard or a doctor.<\/p>\n

Residents did not seem particularly worried\u00a0about the sighting, however, taking to the comments in their hundreds.<\/p>\n

While one commenter asked \u201cWhat is it? A jellyfish? Pretty colour\u201d, others offered advice such as \u201cKeep your dogs on leads because they are nosy enough to investigate what it is and get stung.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many saw the funny side, with one commenter writing, \u201cLooks like something from the Ann Summers collection!!!\u201d and the top comment reading, \u201cThey will sort out them cold water swimmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wild Swimming Cornwall<\/a> shared that it is normal to see the jellyfish on the west coast of Britain in autumn, \u201cwhen south westerly storms blow them in from the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advising on how to identify the Man O\u2019 War, they wrote: \u201cThe balloon or sack part of a Portuguese Man o\u2019 War is easy to spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaching up to six inches in height and bright blue or purple in colour you can see it from a distance. However, their long trailing tentacles can reach up to 50 metres long and are much more difficult to see. Near invisible to spot in the water, these tentacles can become detached from the float and pose a hidden threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also worth knowing that at times they deflate and submerge themselves under the water\u2019s surface in order to avoid predators.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep an eye out for them tangled in seaweed or on rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Port Talbot Coastguard signed off their message writing: \u201cStay safe and please share this message to help keep others informed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support our Nation today<\/p>\n

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an
\n independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by
\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Port Talbot Coastguard on Facebook A south Wales coastguard team has issued a safety warning after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-240391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}