PORTUGUESE MAN OF WAR

About:

• Scientific Name: Physalia physalis.
  
  
• Common name: Portuguese Man O’ War; Blue Bottles; Floating terror.
  
  
• Despite its appearance, it is not a jellyfish, instead it is a ‘siphonophore’, an animal made up of individual organisms called polyps.
  
  
• These polyps are physiologically integrated to such an extent that they cannot survive independently, creating a symbiotic relationship.
  
  
• Composition: It comprises four separate polyps (1) a gas-filled bladder, (2) Tentacles, which are venomous, (3) digestive organisms and (4) reproductive organisms.
  
  
• Tentacles:
  • The venom-filled tentacles are used to kill fish and other small creatures. For humans, a man-of-war sting is very painful, but rarely kills.
    
    
  • Even a dead Portuguese man of war washed up on shore can deliver a sting.
    
    
  
  
  
• Distribution: They are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
  
  
• IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated.