TGIF: Portuguese Man-O-War Feeding
TGIF: Portuguese Man-O-War Feeding avatar


Despite being stung by one of them on a Gulf beach as a kid, Portugese Man-O-War’s are still one of my favorite organisms.  Hat tip to @echinoblog for the link to this video of a Portugese Man-O-War capturing a fish. Remember this species is colonial and made of four different polyps or zooids, working in unison and dividing labor.  The bladder is a single polyp called a pneumatophore.  The long tentacles are dactylzooids used for fishing.  The dactylzooids bring the fish up to another set of zooids, gastrozooids, responsible for digestion.  Last, there is set of zooids, gonozooids, in charge of reproduction. The scientific name Physalia physalis references the Greek term for bladder.

Broadcast Spawn!

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