Another way to lose a record
When I was young, I understood things as absolutes. The most dangerous, the most poisonous, fastest living creatures. One of them was the Portuguese man o' war which was supposed to be the most poisonous jellyfish.
A few years ago, I understood that the title actually belonged to the Box Jellyfish. Imagine my surprised recently when I found that the Portuguese man o' war was not even a jellyfish. Yes, it looked like a jellyfish but it is a Siphonophorae. In simple English, the Portuguese man o' war is made of several specialised creatures that have to live together in order to survive. Each part is an individual organism (zooid) but they have to live together as a colony. There isn't a central system in the Portuguese man o' war that controls all the zooids.
There are 4 zooids. Each zooid specialises in stinging, floating, feeding, and reproducing. Portuguese man o' war reproducing zooids have both male and female parts. Once an egg is fertilised, all four zooids will be present and a fully formed colony is waiting to be born.
A few years ago, I understood that the title actually belonged to the Box Jellyfish. Imagine my surprised recently when I found that the Portuguese man o' war was not even a jellyfish. Yes, it looked like a jellyfish but it is a Siphonophorae. In simple English, the Portuguese man o' war is made of several specialised creatures that have to live together in order to survive. Each part is an individual organism (zooid) but they have to live together as a colony. There isn't a central system in the Portuguese man o' war that controls all the zooids.
There are 4 zooids. Each zooid specialises in stinging, floating, feeding, and reproducing. Portuguese man o' war reproducing zooids have both male and female parts. Once an egg is fertilised, all four zooids will be present and a fully formed colony is waiting to be born.
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