<P> The Atlantic Portuguese man o ' war ( Physalia physalis ) , also known as the man - of - war , is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic , Indian and Pacific Oceans . Its venomous long tentacles deliver a painful sting , which is venomous and powerful enough to kill fish or ( rarely ) humans . Despite its appearance , the Portuguese man o ' war is not a true jellyfish but a siphonophore , which is not actually a single multicellular organism ( true jellyfish are single organisms ) , 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 can not 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 , is a marine hydrozoan of the family Physaliidae found in the Atlantic , Indian and Pacific Oceans . Its venomous long tentacles deliver a painful sting , which is venomous and powerful enough to kill fish or ( rarely ) humans . Despite its appearance , the Portuguese man o ' war is not a true jellyfish but a siphonophore , which is not actually a single multicellular organism ( true jellyfish are single organisms ) , 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 can not survive independently , and therefore have to work together and function like an individual animal . </P>
how deadly is a portuguese man of war
how deadly is a portuguese man of war
powerful enough to kill fish or ( rarely ) humans
powerful enough to kill fish or ( rarely ) humans