The Portuguese Man o’ War jellyfish. It is also known as a bottle jellyfish, because other than its tentacles, its shape looks kind of like a water bottle. Its scientific name is Physalia physalis. Its scientific classification goes like this, Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Cnidaria, Class: Hydrozoa, Order: Siphonophora, Family: Physaliidae, Genus: Physalia, Species: P. physalis.
The Man o’ War jellyfish is located mainly in warm open oceans. Its sail like top floats above the water and the rest of it, including its tentacles stay below the surface of the water. The Man o’ War has no way to propel itself through the water so it moves around with the wind blowing its sail like top or if it floats into a current it goes wherever the current goes. It is most commonly found in the tropical waters of the pacific and Indian oceans. It is very common around Australia too. But depending on what current it gets caught in, it can be found just about anywhere. It has been found as far north as the Bay of Fundy. On the other side of the Atlantic, they are known to wash ashore all along the north side of the Gulf of Mexico and east and west coasts of Florida. They can be found on the beaches from Africa to Hawaii as well.
The Man o’ Wars diet is pretty small and simple. Because it has no way of propelling itself through the water it will for the most part eat anything that swims within range of its poisonous tentacles. Sometimes clown fish will swim in its tentacles for protection from other predators. Because of the mucus on the clown fish, it cannot be stung. This works out good for the Man o’ War too, because the clown fish attracts other fish close enough for the Man o’ War to eat. The loggerhead turtle is one of the main predators of the Man o’ War. In fact the Man o’ War is a very common part of the turtles diet. The turtles skin is too thick for it to be stung. The blanket octopus is also immune to the sting of the Man o’ War, and they sometimes rip off its tentacles and use them for defense. The Ocean Sunfish’s main diet is jellyfish, but it also eats the Man o’ War.
There gut is a sac with an outside layer and inside layer with a secreted, “non-living” layer in between. They only have one opening into digestive system, its mouth, which is surrounded by tentacles.
The Man o’ War does not necessarily breathe, since its cells are in direct contact with the water; it actually just absorbs oxygen, or uses simple diffusion, to get oxygen through its membrane.
Work Cited
“Blue Bottle Jellyfish.” Jellyfish, Jellyfish Facts, Jelly Fish, Jellyfish Species, Jellyfish Safety, Jellyfish Pictures. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. .