{"id":365987,"date":"2026-08-08T06:08:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/365987\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:08:33","slug":"woman-goes-to-throw-away-old-balloon-on-florida-beach-then-realizes-it-could-have-killed-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/365987\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Goes To Throw Away Old Balloon On Florida Beach \u2014 Then Realizes It Could Have Killed Her"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past spring, Elise Grandizio was exploring the beach in Key West, Florida, when she saw a strange blue blob lying in the surf. At first, she didn\u2019t know what it was and assumed she\u2019d just found a piece of litter someone had left lying around.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a distance, it looked like a balloon with strings tangled beneath it \u2014 something left behind that didn\u2019t belong on the beach,\u201d Grandizio wrote on Instagram. \u201cI figured I\u2019d pack it out and trash it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as Grandizio was about to pick up the \u201cballoon,\u201d something shocking happened \u2014 it moved. As she looked closer, she realized it was actually alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp close, it was striking \u2014 translucent blue, almost glass-like, with a soft lavender fin catching the light,\u201d Grandizio wrote. \u201cThen it clicked. Not garbage. Not harmless.\u201d<\/p>\n

After some quick research, Grandizio learned that she\u2019d come across a Portuguese man o\u2019 war, an animal who looks similar to a jellyfish but is actually their own unique species. They live in tropical and subtropical seas around the world and consume fish, larvae and crustaceans.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen o\u2019 war are propelled by winds and ocean currents alone, and sometimes float in legions of 1,000 or more,\u201d NOAA wrote on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The part of the Portuguese man o\u2019 war that was moving around on the beach is called the float. Portuguese men o\u2019 war use their floats to sit on the water\u2019s surface and be carried by the wind, just like the sailboats they\u2019re named after.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe species is named for its resemblance to a class of warships that was developed in Portugal beginning in the 15th century with the caravel, a light agile sailing ship, called a man-o-war, that efficiently harnessed the wind,\u201d Britannica wrote on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, if there\u2019s one thing most people know about Portuguese men o\u2019 war, it\u2019s their notorious stinging tentacles. The tentacles can extend to over 100 feet in length and are nearly invisible in the water, allowing them to easily catch their prey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tentacles contain stinging nematocysts, microscopic capsules loaded with coiled, barbed tubes that deliver venom capable of paralyzing and killing small fish and crustaceans,\u201d NOAA wrote.<\/p>\n

When people get stung by Portuguese men o\u2019 war, they typically suffer from extremely painful welts. The stings can even sometimes be deadly if the person has an allergic reaction. Luckily, Grandizio figured out what was going on quickly enough to avoid a painful or even deadly animal encounter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost picked it up,\u201d Grandizio wrote.<\/p>\n

Grandizio is perfectly happy to have gotten to observe the Portuguese man o\u2019 war from a distance. She got to admire the gelatinous animal\u2019s stunning blue coloring and delicate tentacles \u2014 sting-free.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature is a place that doesn\u2019t always announce its danger,\u201d Grandizio wrote. \u201cSometimes it disguises it as something beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Diver\"Diver<\/a>Diver Spots Unusual Hairy-Looking Fish \u2014 And Finally Solves A 20-Year-Old MysteryIt was an “Aha!” moment. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This past spring, Elise Grandizio was exploring the beach in Key West, Florida, when she saw a strange…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[148494,148495,28,30,29,148496,6101,148493,4624],"class_list":["post-365987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alana-francis-crow","tag-daily-dodo","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-portuguese-man-of-war","tag-standard","tag-the-dodo","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}