VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As the weather warms up, beachgoers are itching to dive in and it’s hard to find a summertime cooldown better than a dip in the ocean.
But there may be something lurking in Virginia Beach waters this year we don’t see very often.
There have been reports on social media of Portuguese man o’ war sightings in the city.
One person reported seeing one in the Lynnhaven River, another reported seeing one near the 1st Street jetty at the Oceanfront, and one man says he saw several on the beach recently.
We talked to the experts at the Virginia Aquarium, and they say the reports could be true.
“Our team has heard from a few sources that Portuguese man o' war have been spotted but we haven’t experienced sightings firsthand,” said a spokesperson with the Aquarium. “There is potential that the nor’easter from last week may have contributed to the species being spotted along our shoreline.”
Common in the tropics, the creatures are occasionally carried north because of ocean currents and winds and have washed up before in Virginia Beach.
Usually blue, violet, or pink, with a balloon-like body, the man o’ war gets its name from an 18th-century Portuguese warship under full sail.
We told you about reports of a man o’ war on the Outer Banks last November.
According to aquarium officials, when the jellies hitch a ride on the Gulf Stream current through Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks, they typically begin to move out toward the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a good distance from the East Coast.
That means it's pretty rare to spot them in our area.
But if you do, keep your distance.
Unlike a regular jellyfish, Aquarium officials say a man o’ war sting is extremely painful and can leave welts and cause shortness of breath and chest pains.
They also recommend reporting a sighting so researchers can track the man o’ war population.