preview

Portuguese Man Of War Research Paper

Decent Essays

Portuguese Man of War “Everything in Australia is trying to kill you, haven’t you heard?” (Rosalind James). Physalia, or Portuguese Man of War, is a salt water species of hydrozoa that thrives in dead zones of tropical and subtropical waters. The animal is often confused with a jellyfish, but it actually is a siphonophore. Blue Bottle, Physalia, is not just a multicellular creatures called zooids. The zooids work together to provide defense, help with feeding, to produce offspring, find a safe habitat, and use all the tools necessary to live a full life. While movement and shape are uncontrollable, they play a vital role in the creature living. The Portuguese Man of War is a beautiful creature that plays in an important role in the ecosystem …show more content…

They are carnivores, but are prey to Loggerhead turtles, certain slugs, and the blanket octopus. Although, the Nomeus Gronovii, a type of small fish, lives in the tentacles of the Man of War to feed off of it and for protection. In groups of 1,000 or more, they travel by the winds and currents for movement through the warm waters. For their life cycle, they reproduce in the fall and the eggs and sperm are fertilized by external fertilization. They are hermaphrodites that contain both eggs and sperm. After that stage, they transform into larva, the change into a polyp, and then they detach themselves from the budding polyp to become the creatures that there are today. Also during this process, Gonozooids make individual cells from asexual division which will contain all three parts, (the gastroderm, epidermis, and the mesoglea). Due to this reproduction, they are not endangered; but they are difficult to study since they do not do well in captivity. Also, they are difficult to find and study since the colors on their bodies absorb UV light that would normally kill most animals, but on their bodies, it acts as a sunscreen. Thus, allowing for them to survive. The Portuguese Man of War shows a prime example of how an animal can adapt to become an evolutionary success. Being in the hydrozoa group, they are a siphonophore that uses venom as a defense, eat small fish and marine animals, can reproduce by itself, live in most parts of the ocean. Currently, they are extremely difficult to tag and learn more information about them. Making these Blue Bottles, hardy and cunning

Get Access