Portuguese man o’ war

Portuguese man o' war

What do you think of Portuguese man o’ war? Does it relate to defence or military based in Portugal?

No.

This was named for its resemblance to ship. This is actually a species of floating colony of hydra like animals called polyps, clustered together under a gas filled bladder. This animal is about 6 inches long but the trailing elements can extend upto 6o feet.

This animal also known as the man-of-war, blue bottle or floating terror is a hydrozoan (very small predatory animals living mostly in salt water). This is mainly found in oceans stretching from Atlantic, Indian to Pacific Ocean and lives mainly in warm weather. This floating terror delivers very painful stings enough to kill fish and even human.

It does have predators and include turtle, ocean sunfish, blanket octopus, among others.

Despite the appearance this creature differs from jellyfish which are single organism. Portuguese man o’ war is made up of several distinct parts called zooids. These zooids are physically attached to one another and cannot move independently. Sometimes these are found in group of 10,000 or more.

Many times these are driven by storm or winds or ocean currents and become a serious menace when reaches coastal town and cities.

Their venomous stings account for nearly 10,000 human stings in Australia each summer. One has to be very careful as you may confuse this creature with a jellyfish resulting in negative consequences especially when you are at sea.

Animal lovers and marine enthusiasts should read this stuff before they venture out near sea or ocean or involved in any type of aquatic activities where Portuguese man o’ war is found.

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