Portuguese man o' war

This article is about the marine invertebrate. For other uses, see Man o' war.

Portuguese man o' war
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Hydrozoa
Order: Siphonophorae
Suborder: Cystonectae
Family: Physaliidae
Brandt, 1835[2]: 236–238 
Genus: Physalia
Lamarck, 1801[1]
Species:
P. physalis
Binomial name
Physalia physalis
Synonyms
  • Family-level synonym[3]
    • Physalidae Brandt, 1835 (original spelling)

The Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war[6] or bluebottle,[7] is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It is considered to be the same species as the Pacific man o' war or bluebottle, which is found mainly in the Pacific Ocean.[8] The Portuguese man o' war is the only species in the genus Physalia, which in turn is the only genus in the family Physaliidae.[9]

The Portuguese man o' war is a conspicuous member of the neuston, the community of organisms that live at the surface of the ocean. It has numerous microscopic venomous cnidocytes which deliver a painful sting powerful enough to kill fish, and even, in some cases, humans. Although it superficially resembles a jellyfish, the Portuguese man o' war is in fact a siphonophore. Like all siphonophores, it is a colonial organism, made up of many smaller units called zooids.[10] Although they are morphologically quite different, all of the zooids in a single specimen are genetically identical. These different types of zooids fulfill specialized functions, such as hunting, digestion and reproduction, and together they allow the colony to operate as a single individual.

  1. ^ Lamarck, J. B. (1801). Système des animaux sans vertèbres. Paris, France: by the author and Deterville. pp. 355–356. Archived from the original on 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-06-07 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. ^ Brandt, Johann Friedrich (1834–1835). "Prodromus descriptionis animalium ab H. Mertensio in orbis terrarum circumnavigatione observatorum. Fascic. I., Polypos, Acalephas Discophoras et Siphonophoras, nec non Echinodermata continens". Recueil Actes des séances publiques de l'Acadadémie impériale des Science de St. Pétersbourg 1834: 201–275. Archived from the original on 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2023-06-07 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. ^ Schuchert, P. (2019). "Physaliidae Brandt, 1835". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  4. ^ Schuchert, P. (2019). "Physalia Lamarck, 1801". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. ^ Schuchert, P. (2019). "Physalia physalis (Linnaeus, 1758)". World Register of Marine Species. Flanders Marine Institute. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Portuguese man-of-war". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. ^ "Bluebottle". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 2024-01-23.
  8. ^ "Bluebottle factsheet". Western Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  9. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Physalia Lamarck, 1801". www.marinespecies.org. Archived from the original on 2022-01-12. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Munro2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).