There are lots of animals and plants in the Indian River Lagoon that can hurt or sting you. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to list more of them, so this page will be about the Portuguese Man - O - War, or jelly fish.

Just like in the movie, 'Finding Nemo', these jellyfish are beautiful, and DANGEROUS!!! The tops or bag like part of the fish do not sting, but watch out for the tentacles!

I took this picture on the beach in March 2009. This is a Portuguese Man-o-war. This little guy was so pretty! I liked his clear blue like body and hot pink/purple accent. At first I thought it was a ziploc baggy!

For fun, I put a little sand on it, and discovered it was breathing! My dad then jumped in to try to save him.

PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! YOU CAN GET STUNG!

OK, not the best idea. He really liked us because he kept coming back on shore. I like this picture because you can see all of the tentacles. They are long and almost look like hair.

Remember, the tentacles sting. This is what it uses to protect itself and eat.