Canada is a pretty safe place when it comes to things like poisonous snakes, or insects or aquatic creatures. In fact you risk no attacks at all in any of Canada’s lakes or rivers, and virtually no problems in any of our oceans.
That may start to change as there have been a few more incidents of Portuguese man o’ wars showing up in east coast Canada.
These “jellyfish” have a severely nasty sting to their long tentacles, which in rare cases can be deadly.
Another of the creatures has washed up on shore near Halifax recently adding to the several that have already been spotted around Nova Scotia.
Unlike jellyfish which expand and contract to pulse their way through water, the man o’ war merely floats on the surface pushed by wind and tides while dragging its long venomous tentacles beneath it. Indeed it is not really a jellyfish at all, but a member of the siphonophore family. These creatures are not a single organism but are a colony each having a specific function which acts as a single entity.
Normally found in tropical and subtropical seas, it is rare to spot them in Canadian waters.
The tentacles are usually about 3 metres long floating below and behind the creature as it is pushed along the surface, but the tentacles can be much longer.
It is important to note that even when the creature is dead on the beach, you can still be stung by the tentacles.
Additional information- sources
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