Dangerous jellyfish invade Progreso beaches

PROGRESO, YUCATAN (March 14, 2021),. Progreso Municipal Ecological Police officers have collected and removed just over 30 specimens of Physalia physalis, Portuguese caravel, also known as the frigate, aguamala, or false jellyfish. Sightings were also reported Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

As reported, although they are not frequent at this time, some of these caravels surprised visitors who were walking along the beaches of the traditional and international boardwalks, when they came across these “aguamalas” ‘, whose sting can be extremely painful depending on the sensitivity. of each person, but usually, the pain is severe.

Members of the Progreso Ecological Police received other reports, and until the afternoon they traveled the coast to find the remains of these invertebrates and bury them so that they decompose, without posing a danger to the population.

The head of the Municipal Police, Obdulio Mena, pointed out that most of these specimens were recovered in Progreso’s traditional boardwalk, and the rest in the international one, in a first sweep they found more than 20 in the first zone.

These species are generally found in the open sea in all the warm waters of the planet, especially in tropical and subtropical regions, and they advance in colonies.

It is called “false jellyfish” because it is not a single animal, but a colonial organism whose individuals specialize to keep the colony alive, each performing specific tasks, navigating with the winds that propel the sail, or the currents that carry it, while others are in charge of the feeding and digestion process.