Portugese Manowar | National Geographic

a relative of the jellyfish the Man
O’War moves about by raising and
lowering its gas filled sail think
you’re looking at one organism huh wrong
multiple organisms called polyps are all
working together to breathe reproduce
feed and survive in one gelatinous body
these tentacles can stretch up to 50
feet long and most of them are studded
with venom packs stinging sounds they’re
a death trap for hapless sea critters
the venom is even strong enough to kill
humans who get entangled in the mass of
tentacles ha now that’s no concern for
these little guys as far as scientists
can tell this no meais or Manowar fish
has only a limited immunity to the venom
so it mainly relies on its small size
and keen reflexes that quickly swim out
of the way of those stingers other fish
are attracted to its seemingly protected
position only to get zapped by the Man
O’War now here’s the gushy part the
digestive organs enter the monstrous
drama they wriggle and twist as they
fasten their flexible mouths onto the
victim they engulf the fish and dissolve
its flesh
pretty wild yet the mighty Man O’War is
not invincible
among its foes this young hungry
loggerhead turtle the turtle skin is too
thick for the stingers to penetrate and
launch their venom but what about the
turtles eyes and mouth scientists don’t
know and the turtle isn’t talking and as
for other foes there’s this odd little
sea slug called a nudibranch that
latches onto the Manowar and feeds on it
it digests the smaller stinging cells
and the bigger more potent stinging
cells amazingly those consumed stingers
pass directly through to the new tube
ranks extremities where it uses their
poison for its own defense against
whatever might want to bite it imagine
one creatures poison being another’s
food