Over half of all animals in
the open ocean drift in currents.
Jellyfish cross entire oceans
feeding on whatever happens to tangle
with the tentacles.
Some can grow to a meter,
even two meters across.
And when, by lucky chance,
they encounter a patch of sea
rich in plankton,
their numbers explode.
In such a successful strategy
that jellyfish are one
of the most common
lifeforms on the planet.
But among the jellyfish,
and looking somewhat like them
is a rather more complex and sinister
creature.
The Portuguese Man O’ War.
It floats
with the help of a gas filled bladder
topped by a vertical membrane
with that serving as a sail.
He maintains a steady course
through the waves
Long threads trail behind it,
some as much as 30 meters long.
Each is armed with
many thousands of stinging cells.
A single tentacle could kill a fish,
Or, in rare cases, a human.
But among its lethal tentacles
lurks a Man O’ War fish
that feeds by nibbling them.
Whilst this fish
has some resistance to the stings,
it must still be extremely careful.
Most other fish
are not so lucky.
Tentacle has caught this one
and reels it in.
Its already paralyzed,
specialized muscular tentacles,
transfer the victim to others
that digests the catch.
Liquefying it with powerful chemicals.
Eventually
all that is left
is a scaly husk.
This voracious Man O’ War
may collect over 100 small fish in a day.
