{"id":2546,"date":"2007-07-30T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T14:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/2007\/07\/30\/portuguese-man-o-war-fact-shee\/"},"modified":"2020-02-12T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T12:26:14","slug":"portuguese-man-o-war-fact-shee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/portuguese-man-o-war-fact-shee\/","title":{"rendered":"Portuguese man-o-war fact sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Physalia physalis <\/em>| Portuguese man-o-war<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese man-o-war is not a jellyfish, rather it is a cnidarian made up of a colonly of animals known as zooids or polyps. There are 4 types of polyp that have different functions: The pneumatophore (or sail) is a gas-filled bladder used for floatation and movement (using wind currents). The sail can be deflated so that the animal submerges to escape an attack on the surface. The long tentalces that average one meter in length are made up of dactylozooids. These polyps are used to inject poison through the nematocysts (stinging cells) to paralyse small fish and other prey. The prey are dragged up to the gastrozooids, a type of polyp that breaks down and digests prey. The gonozooids are the polyps responsible for the reproduction of the organism (each individual is unisexual). The Portuguese man-o-war is very common in warmer areas of the world’ oceans and rarely appear in water below 22\u00baC. In the Azores they are sighted frequently, especially during the spring months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dimensions: 
<\/strong>\u2022 Tentacle length: 1 – 30 m
\u2022 Sail length: 9 – 30 cm 
\u2022 Sail height: 15 cm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colony:<\/strong> About 1,000 organisms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conservation status:<\/strong> Unknown<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diet:<\/strong> Small fish, crustaceans and plankton<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reproduction: <\/strong>Sexual and asexual (via budding)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other languages<\/strong>
Portuguese: Caravela portuguesa
Spanish: Carabela portuguesa
French: Gal\u00e8re portugaise
Italian: Caravella portoghese
German: Portugiesische galeere
Dutch: Portugees oorlogsschip
Swedish: Bl\u00e5smanet\/Portugisisk \u00f6rlogsman 
Norwegian: Portugisisk krigsskip 
Danish: Portugisiske orlogsmand
Finnish: Portugalinsotalaiva
Polish: \u017beglarz portugalski, b\u0105belnica b\u0105belcowa, \u017cyw\u0142oga, aretuza<\/p>\n\n\n\n