Portuguese Man O’ War – Sebastian Beach, FL

Posted on January 10, 2009 | 5 Comments

Portuguese Man O’ War (Physalia physalis) also known as the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, or the Portuguese man of war, is commonly but erroneously thought of as a jellyfish In fact, it is not a single animal, but rather a siphonophore – a colony of four kinds of minute, highly modified individuals, which are specialized polyps and medusoids^[1].- Wikipedia

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5 responses to “Portuguese Man O’ War – Sebastian Beach, FL”

Lidian | January 10, 2009 at 12:53 am |

Amazing! Sending link to Newton…
- fadingad | January 10, 2009 at 3:33 pm |
  
  Internet is down 😦
Xris (Flatbush Gardener) | January 10, 2009 at 1:23 am |

Beautiful! And nasty.

Are these all shots of the same organism?
- fadingad | January 10, 2009 at 3:31 pm |
  
  Two organisms on the beach. Never knew these were symbionts.
Adrian | January 19, 2009 at 3:15 am |

Frank – thanks for the comment and link. Wow – I remember my daughter getting stung by a jellyfish off Prince Edward Island. Your non-jellyfish blue bubble sure looks pretty basking in the sun.