Portuguese man-of-war

{plural – ‘Portuguese man-of-wars’}  (also called ‘blue bubble’, ‘blue bottle’, ‘man-of-war’, ‘Portuguese Man O’ War’)

[‘Portuguese man-of-war’ is not one animal, but a ‘colony’ of four very small but highly modified “polyps” working together as a single unit!]

a ‘unit of animals’ – sea-dwelling (= lives in ocean and sea water) – with a gas-filled air bladder like a balloon in translucent (= self-shining) blue, purple or pale green floating above water, and long thread-like organs called ‘tentacles’, with venomous (= poisonous) stings, below the surface of water; size: the bladder, known as a sail or crest, on average, 12 inch long, and 5 inch wide, and the tentacles, on average, 3 feet long, and weight: depends mostly on the length and number of tentacles, as the whole ‘unit’ is mostly gas and water; lives for 3-5 months (?); found in the tropical warm waters of the oceans and seas, mostly in Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and northern Atlantic Ocean

[A group of Portuguese man-of-wars is called a ‘swarm’.]

Special Features:

Everything about these animals is amazing!

The Portuguese man-of-wars are not very closely related to ‘jelly fish’ though they look like (resemble) them!

A Portuguese man-of-war is not a single animal, but a colony of four individual organisms, called ‘siphonophore’!

The balloon-like bladder we see on the surface of water is called a ‘sail’ or ‘crest’ which is filled with gas, and helps the ‘unit’ to move (float) on the water.

The tentacles, the long thread-like organs, are long and venomous.  A sting of a Portuguese man-of-war stuns or paralyses a 5 inch long fish, and it causes a lot of pain for humans, rarely even death!

The Portuguese man-of-war has got its name from the triangular sails of Portuguese warship, called ‘man-of-war’!

There is another version of the origin of the name: some animal experts are in the opinion that they have got their name from the triangular helmets the Portuguese crusaders (army troops)!!

Though the tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war are venomous (= poisonous), there is a small fish which can live in them and feed on the prey (= animal it kills and eat) the Portuguese man-of-war cannot harm the small fish because it is immune to the venom!

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