■ They come in fleets from the open sea. Blue pneumatophores glistening in the sun, driven by the wind and steered by the waves. And then, when least expecting it, their stringy arms ensnare the unwary. The painful encounter is not soon forgotten.
Who are these peripatetic marine drifters?
The Portuguese man-of-war or pa’malau, as they are known here in Hawaii, are one of the more bothersome nuisances encountered by swimmers, surfers, fishermen, divers, and other beachgoers. As with sea anemones, corals, and other coelenterates*, the pa’malau appear as a single animal but are really a collection of countless small individual creatures banded together into a functioning unit. And although they are similar to jellyfish, the Portuguese man-of-war, or “bluebottle” as the Pacific species Physalia utriculus is called, is sufficiently…
