#5065 · 🪼 jellyfish, starfish, worms & co
Southern Man-O-War
Physalia megalista
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © varanus_enthusiast · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Jacqui Geux · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © mattyratty · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Joseph Knight · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © glinks · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Joseph Knight · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © beaumasters · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Norman P Farmer · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Norman P Farmer · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Arnim Littek · CC BY 4.0
what is it?
The Portuguese man o' war ( Physalia physalis ), also known as the man-of-war or bluebottle , is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It was once thought that there was only one species in the genus Physalia , which in turn would make it the only genus in the family Physaliidae . But recently, through whole genome sequencing, researchers discovered that 4 species exist: Physalia physalis, Physalia utriculus, Physalia megalista and Physalia minuta. It’s...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 3,056 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
fact sheet
- English
- Southern Man-O-War
- scientific name
- Physalia megalista
- class
- Hydrozoa
- order
- Siphonophorae
- family
- Physaliidae
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 3,056
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
relatives· Physaliidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 1631519, Wikipedia (EN). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.