The Portuguese man o' war is not a jelly fish or even a single animal, but many, which are joined together and without each other they cannot survive on their own. The man o' war is pretty impressive looking as in the picture above because it is bioluminescent. It gets it's name from a sailing ship which the looks similar to the floating bit of the man o' mar. The "sail" is always above water and is filled with gas that allows it to float, it can however, be deflated and allows the man o' war to be submerged for a while. It cannot swim, but is blown with the wind as the wind catches the "sail" and this causes it to be blown onto beaches as in the picture beneath. Because they are blown by the wind they can be found in large groups and live in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
It's tentacles can be very long and are toxic, used to catch fish and squid and are very painful if caught on the skin. They are able to paralyze fish and cause symptoms of allergic reactions and whip like stripes for humans and can very rarely be fatal. The tentacle are retractable to bring the prey to the digestive animals near the "sail". They get eaten by Loggerhead Turtles and Sea Swallows.
It is hard to believe by looking at the baby loggerhead turtle that it actually eats the Portuguese man o' war.
Image Credit
The sea swallow is a sea slug that eats the portuguese man o' war and it looks like something you would find in Pokemon, not the ocean.
Hope you enjoyed the post!
