Many people know of the Portuguese man o’ war. But did you know that it is not a jellyfish? Its not even one single animal (debatable)! Its a siphonophore and it is a colony of tiny specialized zooids that form the whole thing. Theres even one siphonophore species that can grow longer than a blue whale.

Man o’ wars reproduce both sexuall and asexually. Not at different times, but to form one whole man o’ war. They spread eggs and sperm in the water and when they meet one larvae will be birthed and from that larvae, it will bud asexually to create more zooids to complete itself.

Also they can be found in groups as large as 1,000! Sounds scary.

  • Reilyh she/her
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    2 months ago

    Longer than a blue whale? :O Also I wonder if it looks like a jelly fish to scare off predators. Since a lot of animals know that jellyfish are toxic and dangerous

    • ZizzyOP
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      2 months ago

      Theyre closely related to jellyfish so I believe thats why they look so similar. They are also venomous themselves and while not super deadly to humans it will not be pleasant to touch its stinger.

      • Reilyh she/her
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        2 months ago

        Why do they call them Jellyfish when they don’t taste like jelly 😔

        EDIT: And eggplants don’t taste like eggs! 😩

  • Widdershins@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    OP I think you meant ‘morale’ in the thread title. I’m not here to be one of ‘those people’ I thought morale in Oregon Trail was some kind of syrup I was always running out of and the shops never sold any.

  • festnt@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    sexual reproduction to create the larvae, and then asexual reproduction to grow… sounds just like how we do it too