<p>Physalia phyalis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Portuguese man-of-war stranded on aragonite sand beach.
</p><p>This organism is not a jellyfish, despite the superficial similarity.  True jellyfish are members of Class Scyphozoa (Phylum Cnidaria), whereas the Portuguese man-of-war is in Class Hydrozoa (Phylum Cnidaria).  This organism is a colony of hydrozoans.  The body is bluish or purplish or pinkish and consists of a gas-filled float plus many long tentacles.  The tentacles have numerous nematocysts (stinging cells), used for paralyzing or killing prey.
</p><p>Classification: Animalia, Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Siphonophora, Physaliidae
</p>
Locality: shoreilne immediately south of The Thumb, eastern margin of San Salvador Island, eastern Bahamas
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/47445767@N05">James St. John</a>
CC BY 2.0
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsjgeology/15896072120/">Physalia phyalis (Portuguese man-of-war) (San Salvador Island, Bahamas) 4</a>