Journal Article
Predation Strategies of the Portuguese Man‐of‐War Physalia physalis
Jorge L. S. Nunes; Diego S. Campos; Héllida Negrão Dias; Luiz P. N. e Silva; Denise M. R. F. Bastos; Tommaso Giarrizzo; Allan Jamesson Silva de Jesus; Jamerson Aguiar‐Santos; Ana Catarina Miranda
Marine Ecology · Vol. 46, Issue 6 · 2025
Abstract
The Portuguese man‐of‐war Physalia physalis is widely known for causing poisoning on human beings. Physalia physalis is mostly described as a predator of fish eggs and larvae. Here, we report for the first time that large fish can also be preyed by P. physalis . We present two hypotheses for the hunting strategies used, that we denominate fishing and scanning. In both strategies, P. physalis makes use of the tentacles to either to attract or to hunt fishes in the water column and in the bottom. We suggest that these could be common and efficient foraging strategies of P. physalis .