About

First of all, the Portuguese Man O'War is not a jellyfish. It is a colonial hydrozoan, made up of small individual animals called zooids - each with their own specific function, e.g. feeding or breeding. They can't live separately and function together as one "animal". Cool, hey? The Potuguese Man O'War lives at the surface of the open ocean, held afloat by a gas-filled bladder. This has a crest like structure at the top which acts as a sail. They can't swim and are at the mercy of the winds - which is why they often end up washed ashore after big storms. They are fearsome predators, catching small fish and crustaceans with their long stinging tentacles. It's these tentacles that you need to watch out for too - they can sting long after the animal has died. Portuguese Man O'War are the favourite food of the Violet Sea Snail - a weird floating sea snail that builds its own bubble raft in order to remain at the surface and hunt its prey.