The Portuguese Man O'War
I'm fairly sure this hasn't been posted yet, guys D:
The Portuguese Man O'War is commonly mislabeled as a jellyfish, which is understandable since it does resemble a jellyfish, but it's actually a siphonophore.
A siphonophore is a colony made up of several tiny animals (polyps and the likes) that develop specialised roles, becoming specific body parts and all living together in harmony.
The tentacles can actually reach a length of ten metres (33 feet), but it's usually more like a metre.
It has a very painful sting, which can lead to welts and blisters D: Ew. (And incidentally my mum has been stung by one before, while on holiday. She said it was godawful.) And they -can- kill you. If you get stung, pour hot water over the area to denature the toxins.
Man O'Wars get around by floating along at the surface, with a float section, filled with gas. This is aided by a sail.
I think that they're rather pretty, if not TERRIFYING.
This community is really good at making people think twice about going swimming XD
But fear not! Loggerhead turtles and blue dragon sea slugs eat them. Mm. Stingy.
( And fucking hell, Blue Dragon sea slugs are freaking cool. Someone make a post about them so I don't look greedy. )
Oh and for one last tidbit, some "by the wind sailors", a kind of Chondrophore. Chondrophores are similar to siphonophores, but tinnyyyy. (And I love the name "By the wind sailor" so much. I've known about these since I was little, as well. I was such a wildlife geek XD)
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrophore
EDIT
I've enabled the option of everyone being able to make their own tags. So in the future, could you guys please tag your entries the best you can? I just remembered to tag this one now, too, after an hour. Aha. I r gud examples.
The Portuguese Man O'War is commonly mislabeled as a jellyfish, which is understandable since it does resemble a jellyfish, but it's actually a siphonophore.
A siphonophore is a colony made up of several tiny animals (polyps and the likes) that develop specialised roles, becoming specific body parts and all living together in harmony.
The tentacles can actually reach a length of ten metres (33 feet), but it's usually more like a metre.
It has a very painful sting, which can lead to welts and blisters D: Ew. (And incidentally my mum has been stung by one before, while on holiday. She said it was godawful.) And they -can- kill you. If you get stung, pour hot water over the area to denature the toxins.
Man O'Wars get around by floating along at the surface, with a float section, filled with gas. This is aided by a sail.
I think that they're rather pretty, if not TERRIFYING.
This community is really good at making people think twice about going swimming XD
But fear not! Loggerhead turtles and blue dragon sea slugs eat them. Mm. Stingy.
( And fucking hell, Blue Dragon sea slugs are freaking cool. Someone make a post about them so I don't look greedy. )
Oh and for one last tidbit, some "by the wind sailors", a kind of Chondrophore. Chondrophores are similar to siphonophores, but tinnyyyy. (And I love the name "By the wind sailor" so much. I've known about these since I was little, as well. I was such a wildlife geek XD)
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrophore
EDIT
I've enabled the option of everyone being able to make their own tags. So in the future, could you guys please tag your entries the best you can? I just remembered to tag this one now, too, after an hour. Aha. I r gud examples.