BEACHGOERS are being warned to look out for the Portuguese man-of-war ‘jellyfish’ after eight were washed up on the south coast of England.

But local marine biologist Richard Lord said reports that had referred to them as deadly were an exaggeration.

‘Their sting is painful but not deadly, unless the victim is very unfortunate.

‘The very young and those who suffer from some other ailment may be vulnerable,’ he said.

Mr Lord had seen them on Guernsey’s west coast beaches in July and October in previous years.

He said the man-of-war, or Physalia physalis – which is not a jellyfish but a colony of marine invertebrates – arrived on beaches in ones and twos.

‘I have never seen more than half a dozen on a Guernsey beach at one time, but that is not to say they couldn’t arrive in large numbers,’ he said.

The creatures can cause a painful sting if the tentacles are touched, even if the specimen appears dead and dried up.

Anyone who is stung is advised to rinse the area with either warm water or seawater and to try to carefully remove the stingers.

The sail-like creatures, which have tentacles up to 30ft long, were recently found in Devon and Cornwall.

They are normally found in warmer deep tropical waters such as around the Florida Keys and Atlantic coast and the Caribbean.

nÊChannel Island sightings should be reported to the Guernsey Biological Record Centre at www.biologicalrecordscentre.gov.gg.