Portuguese Man O' War

The Portuguese Man O' War (Physalia physalis), also known as the Portuguese Man-Of-War, Man-Of-War, or Bluebottle, is a jellyfish-like marine cnidarian of the family Physaliidae. Its venomous tentacles can deliver a powerful sting.

Despite its outward appearance, the Man o' War is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore, which differs from jellyfish in that it is not actually a single creature, but a colonial organism made up of many minute individuals called zooids. Each of these zooids is highly specialized, and, although structurally similar to other solitary animals, they are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are incapable of independent survival.

Read more about Portuguese Man O' War:  Etymology, Habitat and Location, Structure, Venom, Predators and Prey, Commensalism and Symbiosis, Gallery

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