📸 PhotoPhoto: Image courtesy of Islands in the Sea 2002, NOAA/OER. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Portuguese man o' war
Physalia physalis (Portuguese man o' war · カツオノエボシ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its average tentacle length of about 10 m is similar to the length of a city bus, and at up to 30 m it is longer than a 25 m swimming pool lane (Comparison).
- 💡 Even specimens washed ashore that appear dead retain venom in their nematocysts for a long time and can sting if touched on the beach (ADW).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Portuguese man o' war looks like a jellyfish, but it is actually a colonial organism made up of several types of individuals that floats on the sea surface and uses potent venom.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
A blue, purple, or pink float (gas bladder) sits on the water surface, while tentacles and polyps averaging about 10 m in length hang below it, with venomous nematocysts along the tentacles.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Drifting with winds and currents, it catches larval fish, small fish, and shrimp with its tentacles, and fish make up 70–90% of its diet.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In Korea, specimens collected from Seogwipo in Jeju, Hoenggando, and Ilsan Beach in Ulsan were identified as the Pacific form (P. p. utriculus) and reported in a paper on newly recorded species in Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • marinespecies.org — aphia.php
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000039609 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000039609
- • wikidata.org — Q202526
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Portuguese Man-O-War (Physalia physalis).jpg
- • oceanservice.noaa.gov — portuguese-man-o-war.html
- • animaldiversity.org — Physalia physalis
- • koreascience.or.kr — JAKO200411922431339.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.