The Potugese Man-of-war

If you were to see a Portuguese man-of-war, the first word that would probably come to your head would be- jellyfish.  Well, the man-of war is actually a siphonophore.  A siphonophore differs from a jellyfish because it is a colonial organism.  This simply means that a bunch of single celled organisms ,call zooids.  They act together, like how polyps act together to form coral. There are four kinds of zooids that make up the man-of-war. 

The first kind of zooid makes up the gas-filled bladder, called the sail.  This sail can allows the man-of-war to float at the surface.  The sail can be tinged blue, purple, translucent, mauve (a pinkish purple color), and pink.  The sail is filled with about 90% carbon dioxide.  In the event that the man-of-war is attacked, it can deflate this sail, and submerged itself.  The man-of-war's sail must stay wet in order to remain inflated, so they may roll to wet their sail.

The other three kids of zooids create the man-of-war's tentacles.  These tentacles are can grow to over 50 meters long, but are usually 10 meters long.  The venomous tentacles are used to catch prey.  Prey swim through the tentacles and get stung.  Although the venom works on most fish, some fish are immune to the stings and live within the tentacles.

Note: Man-of war stings are poisonous to humans and may result in death.  For treatment, click this link.

Man-of wars- live in tropical regions around the world.  They range from Spain to Guyana to Costa Rica.  This is because they have no means of propulsion.  They must travel through ocean currents.

Isn't interesting that a bunch small organisms can work together to form one massive creature.  When you think about it, we all work together to form society as a whole.  If only everyone could do that.