Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey, brain Stuff Florin vogel mom here. Don't ignore purple flags at the beach. When American lifeguards fly them, it's because potentially dangerous sea creatures have appeared in the water. Maybe there's a gang of jellyfish close by, or perhaps some stingrays are on the move. But a purple flag can also signal the arrival of a much weirder life form, Physalia physalis, a venomous drifter with a mean sting, commonly known as the
Portuguese man o war. The Portuguese man o war is partially transparent, a black suspine, and kills prey with stinging tentacles. You might mistake it for a jellyfish, but it's not. A jellyfish is a singular animal, just like you were me hypothetically. On the other hand, every Portuguese man o war is a floating colony made up of smaller, genetically identical entities that each develop from a single fertilized egg and have different functions, but all live and work in concert.
Portuguese men of war are a type of colonial animal called a siphonophore. There are about one hundred and seventy five known species of siphonophores, all of which are colonies of zooids. Hundreds or even thousands of zooids might make up the colony for the article. This episode is based on how stuff Works spoke by email with biologist Patriona Monro.
She said that from an evolutionary standpoint, these bodies are similar quote to free living individuals, but the colony itself functions as an individual and the bodies or units within the colony do not. A Portuguese man o war is comprised of a few different types of zooids with different functions. Some of them, the gastrozooids, break down food for the colony. That food is captured in the first place by the grasping tentacle like dactyl zooids. Another important player is the pneumataphore,
a gas filled flotation bladder. And let's not forget about the procreation specialists. Human beings might not have too many things biologically in common with Portuguese meno war, yet they, like us, reproduce sexually. Every colony produces sperm cells or egg cells, but not both. Houstuffworks also spoke via email with Paul Bologna of Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey. He explained that during the Portuguese man of war's reproductive seasons,
colonies shed their sex cells out into the water. When a sperm meets and fertilizes an egg, a new colony starts growing. Bologna said, these cells begin to divide and develop in the water column. As the individual grows, new zooids clones within the colony are generated. As the early colony develops, the noumatophoor expands and fills with air, which brings it to the surface, where final development and growth occurs. Basically,
it's have pneumataphor will travel once inflated. This specialty air sack kind of resembles a deformed party balloon. It's how the colony gets around. Unlike octopuses or true jellyfish, Portuguese men of war can't actively swim. The species must instead rely on its bloated pneumataphor, which pokes out above the surface of the water and catches the wind like a ship's sail, propelling the whole colony forward. That's how the
Portuguese man o war got its name. By the way, it doesn't have anything to do with geography or any other particular connection to Portugal, or rather, the critter's distinctive sailing mechanism reminded people of the shapes of fifteenth century Portuguese warships. Each man of war colony is actually considered either right handed or left handed, depending on how that noumatophor structure is oriented relative to the colony's tentacles that
rest below the water's surface. When a left handed colony is pushed by the wind, it naturally moves to the right. Right handed ones are driven towards the left. Tropical waters are the usual domain of this species, but pay heed every so often winds and currents sweet men of war
into more temperate places, Bologna said. In the Northern Atlantic Ocean, Portuguese meta war often get carried north with the Gulf Stream current off the coast of the United States, so it's common to see them wash up on beaches from South Carolina to Maine. Additionally, the Gulf Stream continues across the Atlantic, so they wash up along the coast of England and northern European countries quite frequently. Over in the Indo Pacific, there's a smaller but otherwise similar lookings iphonophor
called the blue bottle. There's been some debate about whether or not it belongs to the same species as the man of war. In the man of War, Beneath the floating balloon lies network of tentacles capable of measuring thirty feet or nine meters long, or even upward of one hundred feet around thirty meters long. They're loaded with the
invertebrates not so secret weapon stinging cells bologna explained. Within each of these cells is a harpoon like structure or organelle called a nomaticist, whose function is to release and penetrate the skin of another organism and then release its cocktail of venoms. That's because metal war are carnivorous. These injections can paralyze fish, crustaceans, and other small animals so
that the colony can eat them. Human beings aren't on the menu, but beach goers should still keep their distance. The sting of a Portuguese man o war can trigger agonizing skin pain. Other symptoms might include abdominal pain, vomiting, headaches, and diarrhea. Human fatalities are rare, but not unheard of. That's why you should beware of a man of war floating in open water, those long ten ol can wrap around you and discharge a dangerous number of stinging cells.
Beached men of war can sting you two, so don't touch one if you ever see one lying on the sand should you get stung, though, researchers have a few tips, and no, none of them involve urine. How stuff works, also spoke i email angel Jaanagahara from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who was part of a team the compared different treatment strategies for stings in a twenty seventeen study. As she said, a first aid for the man of
war is a bit controversial. Vinegar is generally recommended as a first step to prevent additional discharge of nomaticists left on the skin. So what's step number two? Your most practical option might be to immerse the affected area in skin safe hot water, or apply a hot pack with a temperature of one hundred and seven to one hundred and thirteen degrees fahrenheit that's forty two to forty five degrees celsius. Keep it on for thirty two to forty
five minutes. The heat will inactivate some of the venom compounds causing the pain. However, the team's research did show that if you have access to it, applying Sting No More spray followed by Sting No More cream has even better and faster results than treatment with heat. One thing you definitely should not do is pee on the injury. Urine is sometimes touted as a folk remedy for jellyfish
and Portuguese man o war stings. A nineteen ninety seven episode of the sitcom Friends popularized this idea, and don't buy it. Yanagahara said, scientific studies have not shown that urine reduces venom activity or tissue damage. Today's episode is based on the article the Portuguese Man of War is not a Jellyfish and packs a nasty sting on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com and
is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.