1550 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR, ( PHYSALIA ARETHUSA) 



The picture shows the animal feeding- on an anchovy. The minute stingin° 



cells are visible as small clots on the more thread-like tentacles. 



Photographed by L. L. Mowbray. 



The sablefish is one of the best of food fishes, 

 as the writer can testify from many months' 

 personal experience with it. Judging from the 

 number consumed by the eighty men compris- 

 ing our ship's company, it is a safe fish for 

 anyone to buy if it should appear in our eastern 

 markets. 



The attendance at the Aquarium to Novem- 

 ber 1, was 1,457,244. 



THE PORTUGUESE 

 MAN-OF-WAR 



By C. H. TowNSEND 



THIS Portuguese man-of- 

 war, {Physalia arethusa) 

 is an inhabitant of the 

 warmer parts of the Atlantic, 

 but is carried far northward 

 by the Gulf Stream and often 

 drifts ashore along our coast. 

 It is the most conspicuous cf 

 the jellj^-fishes, as its air-filled 

 float is sometimes more than 

 six inches in length, and has 

 along its top a highly colored 

 crest or sail which can be low- 

 ered at will. Beneath are many 

 tentacles and protruding mouth 

 parts. 



According to Mr. L. L. 

 M o w b r a y of the Aquarium 

 staff, it appears about the Ber- 

 muda Islands in vast numbers 

 in February, March and April, 

 after prolonged southerly 

 winds, the sea being literally 

 covered with them. Great num- 

 bers are driven by winds into 

 the bays and stranded on the 

 beaches. East of the Bermu- 

 das, he has sailed through areas 

 that were thickly .covered with 

 them for 150 miles. 



The tentacles of the Man- 

 of-war can hold fishes over six 

 inches in length, although 

 usually taking those of smaller 

 size. It of course takes hold 

 of anything with which its long 

 tentacles come in contact, and 

 as the tentacles can stretch 

 down forty or fifty feet, all 

 sizes of fishes may be entan- 

 gled. The largest fishes doubt- 

 less break away. The tenta- 

 cles are covered with stinging 

 cells which soon weaken and 

 disable its prey. They are then gradually 

 drawn closer to the body, where the numerous 

 protruding and disc-ti^jped stomachs seize and 

 absorb the soft parts, leaving the bones and 

 scales almost intact. The sting of the tentacles 

 is instant and painful to the human hand. 



There is a species of small fish, {Nomens 

 gronovii) known as the Man-of-war pilot, 

 which is apparently immune to the paralyzing 



