第 1116 號，共 1 402 號

Portuguese man o' war

Physalia physalis

名字的由來： The name comes from the man-of-war, a sailing warship, because the float looks like the Portuguese caravel (a sailing ship) under full sail.1

需要看醫生不要碰很少致命，但被螫了需要看醫生。

水母和會螫人的海洋生物

會螫人的觸手吃：肉

對人的危險: 嚴重被螫了需要看醫生。死亡案例非常罕見。

The Portuguese man o' war looks like a jellyfish, but it is actually a colony of many tiny linked animals that work together as one. It drifts on the surface of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, and its long tentacles sting prey. Its sting is painful to people, and in some cases it can kill them.1

分布在

Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans; drifts with winds and currents and can be washed onto beaches.1

大西洋, 太平洋, 印度洋, 地中海, 加勒比海, 墨西哥灣

首頁

It lives on the surface of the water, as part of a group of animals called the neuston. Winds can blow it into bays or onto beaches, where beachgoers are most likely to meet it. A man o' war found on a beach may lead to the beach being closed.1

長度

15 cm (5,9 in)3

一般成體大小

最高速度

大約 1 km/h（0,62 mph）

游泳, 粗略估計

牠吃什麼？

It traps and paralyses prey with its venomous tentacles, then reels the prey in to its digestive zooids. It mainly eats small fish, molluscs, small crustaceans and zooplankton.1

Portuguese man o' war 的照片 — Portuguese man o' war。照片：Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová。 CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist.

怎麼認出牠

A gas-filled bladder called the pneumatophore floats on the surface and acts as a sail.1
Long tentacles, which can reach over 30 m, hang below the surface.1
The float can be up to 30 cm long, 13 cm wide and 15 cm tall.1
Groups can be large, sometimes over 1,000 animals.1
The sail may be left- or right-handed, depending on the way the wind catches it.1

常被誤認為： It superficially resembles a jellyfish, but it is a siphonophore, a colonial animal made of many smaller units called zooids.1

毒液力量

會螫人的觸手

有東西碰到時，成千上萬個小小的刺細胞就會發射。

牠的毒液有什麼作用？

Its tentacles carry nematocysts, tiny coiled, thread-like stingers that inject venom on contact. The venom can paralyse small fish and other prey. The sting is powerful enough to kill fish, crustaceans and, in some cases, humans.1

牠對人有多危險？

對人的危險: 嚴重被螫了需要看醫生。死亡案例非常罕見。

Its stings are painful and it is well known to beachgoers. In some cases the sting can kill humans. Large groups can also reduce fish populations and damage fishing supplies.1

牠害怕時會做什麼？

When attacked at the surface, it can deflate its pneumatophore and temporarily submerge.1

如果牠螫人

離開水裡，把觸手拿掉（戴手套或用布）。
熱帶箱形水母：在螫傷處倒醋至少 30 秒，求救，並準備好做心肺復甦術（CPR）。藍瓶水母和大多數其他水母：用海水沖洗，再用熱水止痛。

一定要先打緊急電話（112、000、911）。這是一般急救指引，不是醫療建議。急救基本知識

注意安全

絕對不要碰、抓或捉弄野生動物，就算是很小的動物，就算牠看起來在睡覺或已經死了也一樣。
給牠空間。如果遇到了，保持冷靜，慢慢往後退，讓牠自己離開。
如果被牠螫了：保持冷靜，保持不動，打緊急電話（112、000、911）或趕快去醫院。記住牠的樣子，有照片會很有幫助。

牠不是想來抓你。牠用毒液來捕捉食物或保護自己，而且牠更想躲起來。更多安全知識

在世界上的哪裡？

非洲亞洲歐洲北美洲南美洲澳洲與大洋洲太平洋大西洋印度洋地中海加勒比海墨西哥灣

牠有多大？

牠有多長？

跟 5 塊玩具積木排成一排一樣長可以在 180 秒內游完一座大游泳池（50 公尺）

Portuguese man o' war 跟「你」比起來有多大？

只是在你的瀏覽器裡做算術。什麼都不會儲存，也不會傳送到任何地方。

牠有多快？

一隻花園蝸牛 大約 0,05 km/h (0,03 mph)

Portuguese man o' war 大約 1 km/h (0,62 mph)

一個正在游泳的人 大約 3 km/h (1,9 mph)

值得知道

小知識

It is not a single animal. It is a colony of zooids, all genetically identical, that work together like organs in one body.1

The blanket octopus is immune to its venom and uses broken tentacles as weapons.1

Its float can produce carbon monoxide, which makes up as much as 13% of the gas inside it.1

The loggerhead sea turtle eats it regularly, because its thick skin protects it from the stings.1

The man-of-war fish can live among its tentacles and feeds on them, while avoiding being stung.1

破解迷思

迷思： It is a jellyfish.

真相： It only looks like a jellyfish. It is a siphonophore, a colony of many linked zooids.1

給毒液專家

學名: Physalia physalis
類群: 水母和會螫人的海洋生物
家人: Physaliidae2
排序: Siphonophorae
各大洲: 大西洋, 太平洋, 印度洋, 地中海, 加勒比海, 墨西哥灣, 海洋
寶寶: Each colony is either male or female, and eggs or sperm are released into the water, where a fertilised egg develops into a planula (a free-swimming larva) that grows into a new colony.1
對人的危險: 3 / 5: 嚴重3