Navarre Beach, FL These jellyfish are very common in the Gulf of Mexico. They have a mild sting that can be uncomfortable if you bump into one while swimming. They can sting even when washed up on the beach, so don't touch!
This beautiful jellyfish was washed up on Navarre beach. It is best to just enjoy these animals at a distance, they can still sting when they are dead. Normally, the stingers are used to paralyze small fish. This specimen was the size of a dinner plate. The "flower-like" structure is the reproductive parts of the jellyfish, they are pink in males and yellow in females.
During a visit to Navarre Beach in Florida in 2019 my husband and I were surprised to see hundreds of these unusual creatures washed up on the sand. They are animals in the class Hydrozoa, made up of colonies of many individual animals. They float on top of the water catching their prey with dangling tentacles. Their "sails" lean either to the left or the right, this is a left-leaning individual. They are small, only 2 inches long, and (unlike their close relative, the Portuguese-Man-o-War) are harmless.
