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Welcome to Animalia Stupendium. My name is Argomandanes, newly crowned member of the ruling Thomaturgic Triumvirate, slayer of the Gray Dread and tireless creature chronicler. However, mere monsters hold no mystery for me. These days. Dragons our drab, even the gray Dread proved rather underwhelming if I'm being honest. So instead I turn my attention once more to the strange fauna of a land called Earth. Travel with me, gentle reader, as we consider the Portuguese man o.
War common name Portuguese man o' war scientific name Isalea phisolus. Frequency in range tropical and subtropical oceans around the world, with some forays into temperate regions. Size float may reach heights of six inches or fifteen centimeters, tentacles as long as one hundred and sixty five feet or fifty meters. Diet small fishes, plankton, and crustaceans. Treasure hord nematsis venom challenge rating three.
The naming of terrestrial organisms often confuses wizards, such as myself. The Portuguese Man of War is neither distinctly from Portugal, a nation of the earth realm, nor is it a man. Needless to say, it does not engage in war either. No, it merely earned this name due to its resemblance to sail powered Portuguese warships, though it is known by many other names among the peoples who encountered its sting, including ah the floating Terror. But allow me to describe the
creature itself. Above the water line, we see a large blatter filled with such gases as carbon monoxide, oxygen, nitrogen, and argon. It appears translucent, very splendid, with rare shades of blue, purple, and pink, inviting to think again, because beneath the water line, the organism trails a long flail of stinging tentacles venomous damage. Yes, the tentacles. Boast Neumaticists specialize stinging cells that administer a potent venom that paralyzes
small prey. Even human beings will experience intense pain from the manner War's sting, and more severe symptoms are possible, but of course we are not on the menu. Once it is paralyzed, the small prey in thereby its tentacles it deploys its specialized digestive gastrozooids, which spread over the praise body and digested enzyme damage. Now I come to one of the more remarkable facts concerning the Portuguese man o War. For starters, the creature is not a sea jelly.
It is a sciphonophar, and as such is a colonial organism made up of genetically identical but highly specialized polyps. Consider what you might mistake for a single organism's reproductive system, a digestive system, grasping arms, and a flotation bladder are in fact individual zooids. Each zooid is a multi cellular animal unto itself that exist as part of a colonial whole,
each compromising unessential system of that whole. The gas filled blatter is the nomatophor, the venom laced tentacles are made up of tenacular paupons, the feeding polyps are gastrozoids, and the compound reproductive structure is the gonodendron, composed of multiple
reproductive zooids. Again, each zooid in a single man o war is genetically identical, essentially clones that carry out different functions, which allow the man o' war to function as one to compare this to my own mundane world of sorcery, consider the legendary warrior who stole a magic cauldron from a dragon's layer. He climbed inside the quadron, and two of him emerged, identical to each other. Knowing that the foul dragon would soon come for him with talon and flame,
our warrior or now warriors, formed an idea. The two identical warriors climbed inside the cauldron, and four of them emerg'd. Soon there were eight, sixteen, a whole squad of warrior clones. But alas they realized, they still had no chance against a dragon. And that's when a certain wizard advised them of a few particular spells to transform each of these clones into an essential organ, limb, or tissue of a
greater whole. And thus, following a frenzied hour of transmutation, each warrior clone became an oversized part, a hand here, a liver there, and finally, a single giant warrior rose up to face the coming wrath of the dragon. Consider it a rough analogy for the colonial organism that is, the Portuguese man of war. Or perhaps consider the idea of three goblins and a cloak on each other's shoulders,
posing as a cleric. Anyway, back to the Portuguese man of War reproductively, each colonial individual is either male or female and reproduces via broad gas spawning females release eggs in the fall, and the males release sperm. Fertilization then happens at the water's surface, the same transitional realm that the adults call their home. While the creatures are most common to tropical and subtropical oceanic waters, they are not free swimming. They float where the current and the wind
takes them, which sometimes means far more temperate waters. Plus, as Earth's oceans warm, their range only expands, and the Portuguese man or War makes its home in waters previously too cold for their way of life. Now there are more mysteries concerning the man o War to consider, But for now I must retire my wizard's quill and allow my familiars some respite. But I shall return with even more wonders of the natural world.
Hi, this is Robert Lamb. Thanks again to the wizard Augo Mandanese for joining us in this episode. Sources for this episode included what is the Portuguese Man of War by the National Ocean Service Oceania. International Morphology and Development of the Portuguese Man of War by Salia Fislis by
Monroe at All Scientific Reports, twenty nineteen. They're here Portuguese Man of War by Sarah Treynor Boyce Yesterday's Island, Today's Nantucket twenty twenty four and Portuguese Man o War by Salia Feisalus venom induces I See an Influx into Cells by Permeabilizing plasma Membranes by Edwards and Hessinger Toxicon two thousand. Thanks as always to the excellent JJ Possway for producing
this episode. If you want to contact Argomandanes with recommendations for future episodes, you can send them to us at contact at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com.
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