Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis)

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The Atlantic Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war, or floating terror, is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its venomous tentacles deliver a painful sting, which on extremely rare occasions has been fatal to humans. Despite its outward appearance, the Portuguese man o' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore, which, unlike jellyfish, is not a single multicellular organism, but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals (of the same species) called zooids or polyps. These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are unable to survive independently, and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal.

The Indo-Pacific Portuguese man-of-war (P. utriculus), or blue bottle, is a related species with very similar appearance found throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The Atlantic Portuguese man o' war lives at the surface of the ocean. The gas-filled bladder, or pneumatophore, remains at the surface, while the remainder is submerged. As the Portuguese man o' war has no means of propulsion, it moves according to the winds, currents, and tides. Although it is most commonly found in the open ocean in tropical and subtropical regions, it has been found as far north as the Bay of Fundy, Cape Breton and the Hebrides.

Strong winds may drive them into bays or onto beaches. Often, finding a single Portuguese man o'war is followed by finding many others in the vicinity. They can sting while beached; the discovery of a man o' war washed up on a beach may lead to the closure of the beach.

The Portuguese man o' war is a carnivore. Using its venomous tentacles, a man o' war traps and paralyzes its prey while "reeling" it inwards to the digestive polyps . It typically feeds on small marine organisms, such as fish and plankton.

Portuguese man o' war in Tayrona National Natural Park, Colombia

The organism has few predators of its own; one example is the loggerhead turtle, which feeds on the Portuguese man o' war as a common part of its diet. The turtle's skin, including that of its tongue and throat, is too thick for the stings to penetrate.

The blue sea slug Glaucus atlanticus specializes in feeding on the Portuguese man o' war,as does the violet snail Janthina janthina.

The blanket octopus is immune to the venom of the Portuguese man o' war; young individuals carry broken man o' war tentacles, presumably for offensive and/or defensive purposes.

The ocean sunfish's primary diet consists of jellyfish, but it also consumes the Portuguese man o' war.