PORTUGUESE MAN -Ó- WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 3, 4 January 1941, Page 2 (Supplement)

PORTUGUESE MAN -Ó- WAR

DURING the summer months large concentrations of jelly fishes frequently occur in local waters. In Auckland Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf the common species is the saucer-shaped transparent one with four crescentic lilac coloured patches. Elsewhere, particularly in the Cook Strait area, more varied species occur, including some colourful giants up to 2ft across and with long, trailing streamers. The common species is harmless, but many of the larger and more brightlycoloured species are capable of administering quite severe stings. Worst Stinging Species The worst stinging epecies Aucklandcrs' are likely to encounter ia a near relative of the jelly-fishes known by the quaint name of "Portuguese man-of-war." It is seldom seen on our east coast beaches but is usually in evidence on the beaches of the Auckland west" coast. It is a handsome creature with an elongated air bladder of brilliant peacock blue, and growing up to five inches in length. The crest of the bladder is peaked and frilled along the wlge, and no doubt serves as a sail for the colony of creatures underneath, for from- the lower eide of the bladder there hang bunchee and streamers of miscellaneous objects, eome white, some blue and others intense violet. Each of these objects is an individual, for the Portuguese man-of-war is not a single creature like the ordinary jellyfish, but a whole colony of animals, each one performing its own special function, resulting in a "well disciplined ship" as befitting its name. Probably this name dates back to the days of Vasco da Gama, when Portugal was a great sea Power. Although not armed with guns, the Portuguese man-of-war is by no means defenceless. Just pick up one and you will regret that action for several days to come, for these harmless-looking creatures are armed with powerful stinging capsules <s nianoci ~- -' -""I sorts of speeds ;'.. - angles, and it is up to the pilot to try to adjust his dive to her unpredictable activities. In modern war, as every newspaper reader must realise by now, co-ordinated mass attack is all-important; and our d r -ve-bombing pilots must manoeuvre their planes in many complicated situations before their training is complete. In a co-ordinated action the slightest error can be fatal. Terrific Strain Stamina is of greatest importance in both plane and pilot engaged in divebombing. You really cannot appreciate the terrific punishment to the system until you have experienced it. You see darting, horizontal scooters and curlicues before your eyes. Your ears crackle and your head feele as if it had suddenly grown mammoth. Many times I have had to shallow a practice dive, or abandon the attack completely, because I just couldn't stand the pain. If you have ever ridden on a roller coaster you know i':o sensation of dropping 60ft down a track pitched at a TOdeg angle. Multiply that 60ft to 18,000 ft, imagine doing it at a speed of between 370 and 420 miles an hour, i sometimes dropping almost vertically, and perhaps you can get an inkling of what it is like. It is commonly accepted that sooner or later the dive-bombing pilot will pay for his career, if long enough continued, by some degree of impaired hearing. Two or three practice dives are enough to make a strong man go limp an.l , weak. Many a night, after a strenuous . session, I have crawled out of my plane ■ so completely fatigued, mentally and - physically, that all I could do was to sit down on the nearest object that ; offered—just sit, blank and eodden as s a drunken man.

By A. W. B. Powell

which raise weals on the skin and cause pain more intense than that caused by stinging nettles. Moreover, it may take several days before the effects of the poison wear off. Cruises the High Seas The Portuguese man-of-war, or Physalia caravella, as it is termed scientifically, is not restricted to local waters, in fact it is peculiar to no country, but cruise* the high seas, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical waters, until by misadventure it becomes wrecked on some distant shore. Northerly winds in particular often bring large fleets of them into coastal waters, having, doubtless, been lured or drifted southwards along the east Australian current, which, originating in the tropical Pacific sweeps down the east Australian coast and the-nce across the Tasman to warm up the waters of our western coa '. line. An American zoologist who made a special study of the habits ef Physalia found that they float idly in the sea until some unwary fish comes into contact with the long streamers suspended below the float. Immediately a fish touches one of these streamers it is rendered powerless by the stinging cells, after which these streamers contract and raise the fish to within range of the hungry mouths of the colonies attached beneath the "oat. Once more we marvel at such faultless organisation —and in a lowly jelly fish at that. Transparent Raft Another interesting relative of the jelly-fishes, of the seme lovely blue as the Physftlia, is the '•by-the-wind-sailer' or Velella. Both species frequently wash ashore together on the Auckland West Coast, but the Velella is less conspicuous owing to its much smaller size. It is seldom more than one inch and a half in length, and instead of en. inflated bkdder it has a transparent flat oblong raft marked off in concentric growth lines like the scale of a fish. This is surmounted by an upright simi-

lar piece which is placed forming an excellent sail, from whiek|§ the creature gets its popular name. I On the under-side of the raft is|| crowded the hundreds of tiny blue am-\g, mals of similar structure to those ef thejl; Portuguese man-of-war, but without thfc fs long streamers. A third member of this group, PorpHa,';s is like Velella, except that the raft mall, perfectly round and without a% sail. Although common elsewhere, thUS is a rarity in our seas, for so far as I;* know a number of examples which 1-J collected on the Muriwai Beach abontj five years ago makes the only record <rf-jf the species in Xew Zealand. Study of the classification of jelly- J fishes reveals some interesting relation- \ ships, for is it not surprising to learn -- that such apparently diverse organists as j jelly-fishes, sea-anemones, corals and tie I beard-like growth on mussel shells are j structurally «11 so closely allied that a they are " classified in the one gronp V* known as the coelenterata.