Sun, sea & jelly fish

The sun is out and although its only 8am its already quite hot. The temperature is due to go up to 30 degrees or even a bit more...Summer is defenitely back in Malta. I am dying to dip in our clear blue sea but of course it seems to be infested by jellyfish once again! These little jelly like creatures do havoc of our Summers first they sting and if you see one there wil usually be more- on some unlucky days there might be so many together that you simply can't swim.. To add insult to injury, the reports are that its the big portuguese jelly fish also known as the portuguese manowar that are on our islands.... I haven't seen these big jelly fish myself and I hope its the usual hoax. On wikipedia, this is what I found on the man o war:

The Portuguese Man o' War (Physalia physalis), also known as the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, or the Portuguese man of war, is a jelly-like, marine invertebrate. They are commonly but erroneously thought of and referred to as a jellyfish. In fact, a Portuguese Man O' War is not a single animal, but rather a siphonophore – a colony of four kinds of minute, highly modified individuals, which are specialized polyps and medusoids. The Portuguese Man O' War is infamous for swarming in groups of thousands and for a very painful, powerful sting. It is rare that only a single Portuguese Man O' War is found; the discovery of one usually indicates the presence of many as they can "swarm" in groups of thousands.

Attitudes to the presence of the Portuguese Man O' War vary around the world. Given their sting, they must be treated with caution and the discovery of a number of blue bottles washed up on the beach might lead to the closure of a whole beach.
Stings usually cause severe pain to humans, leaving whip-like, red welts on the skin which normally last about 2–3 days after the initial sting, the pain should subside after about 1 hour. However, the venom can travel to the lymph nodes and may cause, depending on the amount of venom, more intense pain. A sting may lead to an allergic reaction. There can also be serious effects, including fever, shock, and interference with heart and lung action. There have even been deaths, although this is rare. Medical attention may be necessary, especially where pain persists or is intense, or there is an extreme reaction, or the rash worsens, or a feeling of overall illness develops, or a red streak develops between swollen lymph nodes and the sting, or if either area becomes red, warm and tender.

Nice is it? As I said I will pray its just the yearly hoax as otherwise, I defenitely can't take Greg for his first swim in our beautiful sea which is a great shame. Also considering the heat, we won't have any respite from it if the sea is infested!

(top common jellyfish found in Malta; mid section portuguese man o war)