Beaches closed in Benidorm due to invasion of ‘jellyfish’

BENIDORM beaches were closed for a time this morning after Portuguese Man O’ War ‘jellyfish’ were spotted off the coast.

The Portuguese man o’ war is a highly venomous predator, rarely seen off of the Costa Blanca, in the Mediterranean sea.

Resembling a jellyfish, each man o’ war is actually a colony of several small individual organisms, which are so closely intertwined that they cannot survive alone.

They are covered in venom-filled barbs which are used to paralyze and kill fish and other small creatures. For humans, a man-of-war sting is excruciatingly painful, but rarely deadly.

But beware—even dead man-of-wars washed up on shore can deliver a sting.

Initially, the authorities banned all swimming, posting red flags on both Levante and Poniente beaches, but lowered this to the warning yellow flag, after a boat search failed to spot any more.

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