<P> The Atlantic Portuguese man o ' war ( Physalia physalis ) , also known as the man - of - war , blue bottle , or floating terror , is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic Ocean , as well as the Indian and Pacific Oceans . Its venomous tentacles can deliver a painful sting , which can be fatal . Despite its outward appearance , the Portuguese man o ' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore , which , unlike jellyfish , is not actually a single multicellular organism , but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals ( of the same species ) called zooids or polyps . These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are unable to survive independently , and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal . </P>
<P> The Atlantic Portuguese man o ' war ( Physalia physalis ) , also known as the man - of - war , blue bottle , or floating terror , is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic Ocean , as well as the Indian and Pacific Oceans . Its venomous tentacles can deliver a painful sting , which can be fatal . Despite its outward appearance , the Portuguese man o ' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore , which , unlike jellyfish , is not actually a single multicellular organism , but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals ( of the same species ) called zooids or polyps . These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are unable to survive independently , and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal . </P>
difference between jellyfish and portuguese man of war
difference between jellyfish and portuguese man of war
Portuguese man o ' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore , which , unlike jellyfish , is not actually a single multicellular organism , but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals ( of the same species ) called zooids or polyps
Portuguese man o ' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore , which , unlike jellyfish , is not actually a single multicellular organism , but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals ( of the same species ) called zooids or polyps