Critters – Sailing Pearl: Travels on a Beneteau Oceanis 373

Critters: Man o’ War Jellyfish

I think most people have heard of Portuguese Man ‘o War jellyfish — and are terrified of the stings they can deliver. I believe very few people, on the other hand, have encountered one.

Portuguese Man o’ War Jelly Fish are pretty common in the Florida Keys during certain times of the year. Lisa and I spotted one while we were sitting on in Pearl’s cockpit while parked in the Boca Chica channel off Key West one day. Lisa is an avid critter catcher, so we decided to take a closer look from the safety of the dinghy.

Initially, the Portuguese Man o’ War looks like a partially inflated plastic bag , container of some sort, or possibly garbage. On closer inspection, it looks like bluish sausage with an inflatable sail and a bunch of black strings attached to the bottom. It’s the black stings that are the stinging bits.

What we found really interesting was that the Man o’ War we followed sensed us and changed it’s behavior. Initially it seemed to want to get closer. After we had looked at for a bit, it seemed to want to get away. Besides being “sentient” the Man O’ War also seemed to have several little black fish living among it’s tentacles. Curious. Check out the pictures and video below.

All in all, this is a fascinating creature. According to Wikipedia it’s not just a single multi-celled organism, but a symbiotic colony of Zooids. You can read the entire wikipedia article for more details.

Critters: Flamed Box Crab

As mentioned previously, Lisa in an avid catcher of critters. One of her recent finds was an odd looking crab. It was shaped like a bun, or dinner roll, more or less when it had it’s claws folded in.

This little guy looked like he’d been hit in the head and was barely alive. He was rolling around in the sane when we found him. He looked like a rolling rock — since rocks don’t roll, we had to check him out.

It took a bit of effort to identify the critter. I think it’s a flamed box crab. What do you think?

Biscuits Anyone?

One of Ajit’s favorite places is to sit chest high in gin clear water on a beautiful balmy afternoon with water gently lapping over him.

For me, my preference is to walk around exploring what the ocean will expose. I love to hear the ocean while enjoying the water gliding across my toes and the sand gently massaging the bottom of my feet. Who needs a pedicure when mother nature will gently smooth your feet while walking on slightly pink sugary sand?

Many years ago, I discovered my first sea biscuit in the Bahamas. I had often found sand dollars in the Charleston area but the sea biscuits were a new find for me. They look like puffed up sand dollars. I had only seen the beautiful shell remaining after a sea biscuit has passed on. Today, I walked over this brown blob in the waters edge. After looking closely, I realized this was a live sea biscuit. It was covered in tiny little hair like spikes very much like a live sand dollar.

Much to my surprise two little ones were clinging to the shell. They are the two whitish blobs on top of the brown lump. Look closely and you will see them. I am not sure exactly how sea biscuits reproduce, but this would suggest that they carry their eggs which end up trapped in their furry covering and remain there after being fertilized until the babies are ready to fall off. Something more to research.

Curiously the sea biscuit propelled itself forward at a noticeable rate. While it’s obvious they would move, I didn’t expect it to move quite so fast — an inch a minute?

Below is a sea biscuit which is no longer alive. Mother nature is truly amazing!