|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Portuguese man-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis), a relative of the jellyfish that floats on the surface (neustonic) in warm oceans. They are blue in colour with a large gas-filled float beneath which hangs the main body, and are often found lined up in windrows and slicks. The body consists of polyps, modified as feeding tentacles, or for digesting prey, or for reproduction. The tentacles are enormously extensible and a 30-centimetre (12-in.) float may be trailing 30 metres (100 ft) of tentacles, which are armed with powerful stinging cells (nematocysts). These discharge in response to touch and chemical stimuli, killing their prey of small fish and plankton. They can also sting humans painfully and can cause anaphylactic shock that may temporarily paralyse a swimmer. The tentacles are blue and difficult to see in the water, and can still sting even after becoming detached from the colony. The float is set on the body so that some animals tack to the right and others to the left. In the sea individual Portuguese men-of-war are often accompanied by one or more man-of-war fish (Nomeus gronovii). This has blue and silver vertical stripes, swims with immunity amongst the animal's tentacles, and lives in symbiosis with it, gaining protection, and possibly some food, from its host. The Portuguese man-of-war is not without its predators; loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) eat them regularly.
www.aloha.com/~lifeguards/portugue.html M. V. Angel |
|
|
Cite this article
"Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Portuguesemanofwar.html "Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Portuguesemanofwar.html |
|
Portuguese man-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war Colonial coelenterate animal found in marine subtropical and tropical waters. It has a bright blue gas float and long, trailing tentacles with highly poisonous stinging cells. It is not a true jellyfish: the tentacles are actually a cluster of several kinds of modified medusae and polyps. Length: to 18m (60ft). Class Hydrozoa; genus Physalia.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"Portuguese man-of-war." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Portuguese man-of-war." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Portuguesemanofwar.html "Portuguese man-of-war." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Portuguesemanofwar.html |
|
Portuguese man-of-war
Por·tu·guese man-of-war • n. a floating colonial coelenterate (Physalia physalis, order Siphonophora, class Hydrozoa) with a number of polyps and a conspicuous float. It bears long tentacles that are able to inflict painful stings. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-portuguesemanofwar.html "Portuguese man-of-war." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-portuguesemanofwar.html |
|
Portuguese man-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) See NOMEIDAE; RHIZOPHYSALIINA.
|
|
|
Cite this article
MICHAEL ALLABY. "Portuguese man-of-war." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "Portuguese man-of-war." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-Portuguesemanofwar.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "Portuguese man-of-war." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-Portuguesemanofwar.html |
|
Portuguese man-of-war
Portuguese man-of-war see jellyfish ; polyp and medusa . |
|
|
Cite this article
"Portuguese man-of-war." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Portuguese man-of-war." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-Portmanwar.html "Portuguese man-of-war." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-Portmanwar.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
