Portuguese man o' war

The Portuguese man o' war is one of the most beautiful sights in the sea. It floats along the top of the warm ocean with a shimmering blue and purple bubble poking above the water, trailing long, wispy threads beneath it. From far away it looks like a jellyfish, but it is really something even more surprising and special.

Here is the most amazing thing of all: a man o' war is not a single animal. It is a whole colony of tiny creatures called zooids, all joined together. Each little zooid has its own special job — some help the colony feed, some help it float, and some help it make babies. None of them could live on their own, so they team up and work together as if they were one big animal.

On top of the colony sits a bubble filled with gas, and it works just like a sail. The man o' war cannot swim at all. Instead, the wind pushes against its sail and carries it gently across the sea, so it goes wherever the breeze decides to take it. That is why you sometimes find them washed up on a beach after a windy day.

Hanging below the float are long, thin tentacles that the man o' war uses to catch small fish and other tiny sea creatures. These tentacles can sting, so if you ever spot a man o' war — in the water or resting on the sand — it is best to look but not touch, and simply admire this wonderful creature from a safe distance.

Portuguese man o' war drift through the warm parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Some small fish are even clever enough to shelter among the tentacles, hiding there from bigger animals that would not dare to come close. A sailing colony of tiny friends, riding the wind together — the man o' war really is one of the ocean's true wonders.