
Man O' Wars
Physalia
Physalia is a genus of the order Siphonophorae, colonies of four specialized polyps and medusoids that drift on the surface of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Although these organisms look like a single multicellular organism, each specimen is actually a colony of minute organisms called zooids that have to work together for survival. A gas-filled bladder resembling a blue bottle provides buoyancy, and long tentacles of venomous cnidocytes provide a means of capturing prey. A...
5 branches of this genus, most-observed first

Portuguese Man o' War
speciesPhysalia physalis

Indo-Pacific Man-O-War
speciesPhysalia utriculus

Southern Man-O-War
speciesPhysalia megalista
Little Bluebottle
speciesPhysalia minuta

Crescent Helmet Man-o-War
speciesPhysalia mikazuki
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Physalia in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 117305.