CHARLESTOWN, R.I. (AP) – Like many people soaking up the sun on Blue Shutters Town Beach on Monday, Julie Coburn was determined to spend the day at the shore, despite warnings about Portuguese men-of-war, a jellyfish-like organism with a painful sting.

“They’re not supposed to be here, we are,” said Coburn, 44, who drove 2 hours from her home in Bernardston, Mass., for a weeklong vacation in Rhode Island, and was disappointed to find out the warm-water creatures were floating offshore.

From Westerly in Rhode Island to Nantucket in Massachusetts, the summer has seen an unusual number of Portuguese men-of-war off southern New England. Scientists say a change in the pattern of the Gulf Stream, warmer waters, a northern wind and recent storms are probably all to blame.

Rhode Island state officials said the creatures had been seen at beaches in Jamestown, Newport, South Kingstown, Narragansett, Block Island, Charlestown and Westerly this summer.

In Massachusetts last month, a man was hospitalized after being stung by two men-of-war in Westport. Officials at the time said it was the first sighting there in 10 years. They have also been seen off Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven and Mattapoisett.

An 18-year-old girl was stung at Misquamicut State Beach in Westerly Monday afternoon and taken to the hospital as a precaution, said Gail Mastrati, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Management. Restrictions were in place at state beaches in Rhode Island’s South County area, where people were warned not to go further than waist-deep into the water.

Charlestown officials also restricted swimming at the town’s two beaches after a few people were stung on Sunday, including a 9-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy, said Lisa DiBello, the town’s director of parks and recreation. In her 18 years with the department, DiBello said this is the first time she has encountered the Portuguese men-of-war here.

Lifeguards at Blue Shutters said a 14-year-old boy was also stung on Sunday at the beach, where Coburn sat in a beach chair on Monday watching her two daughters, ages 12 and 15, play in the sand at a safe distance from the water.

Coburn said the children were disappointed that they could not go further than knee-deep at the Charlestown beach.

“It takes a little bit of the fun out for them,” Coburn said.

Coburn’s 12-year-old daughter, Zoe, who recently wrote a school report on the creatures, said she was afraid of getting into the water and getting stung.

“They’re poisonous,” Zoe said, while filling up a bucket full of sand.

The Portuguese man-of-war, also known as a bluebottle, is actually a floating colony of polyps. The organism, with a balloon-like sail propelled by the winds, trails tentacles that can reach 100 feet or more and that sting when touched. The stings deliver a neurotoxin that can be extremely painful and sometimes require medical attention.

Typically, the creature sticks to warm tropical and subtropical areas. They sometimes appear in the Northeast after being carried here by warm currents or storms, but typically not in such large numbers.

“It’s pretty unusual to have this many and to have them spread over such a large area,” said Larry Madin, a senior scientist in the biology department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass.

Najih Lazar, supervising biologist with Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management, said officials don’t know for sure why the creatures are finding their way to New England. But he said it’s probably a combination of factors.

The Gulf Stream moves north from Florida along the East Coast before turning east toward Europe, Lazar said.

“That turn is usually south of Delaware, about 300 miles off shore,” he said. “This year it’s a little more north than usual.”

A recent tropical storm off the coast of New England, along with about a week-and-a-half of winds pushing north, are also probably to blame for the latest group of organisms, he said.

“This animal floats on the surface. It has a balloon-like shape. The prevailing winds just push it,” Lazar said. “They are at the mercy of currents and winds.”

In previous years, the creature would not have survived Rhode Island’s cold waters, which typically average between 73 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, he said. This year, the average temperature is already up to about 78 degrees, he said.

Beachgoers and lifeguards alike are hopeful the men-of-war aren’t here to stay.

Graham MacCoy, a lifeguard at Blue Shutters who helped the 14-year-old boy who was stung, said he was anxious for them to leave.

“So people can enjoy their beach day,” MacCoy said.

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