Portuguese Man O'War Species Honors 'One-Eyed Dragon' Samurai

There's a New Portuguese Man O’ War Species Named After a Samurai Warrior

In the cold waters off northeast Japan, a group of students found a Portuguese man o’ war. It shouldn’t have been there. It doesn’t make any sense why it would be there. It turned out to be an entirely new species, now named the Physalia Mikazuki, or the “crescent helmet man o’ war,” after the samurai lord Date Masamune, who famously had a massive crescent moon shape adorning his helmet. The discovery was detailed in the journal Frontiers in Mar…

Portuguese Man O'War species honors 'One-Eyed Dragon' samurai

A team of university students in Japan identified an entirely new species of the mighty Portuguese Man O’War. Described in a study recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, the creature’s distinct features and fearsome venom have earned it a name that honors a famous 16th century samurai warrior. It’s easy to mistake the Portuguese Man O’War (Physalia physalis) for a jellyfish. After all, it features a squishy “head” and ven…

New Portuguese Man O' War Species Discovered After Warming Ocean Currents Push It North

"I came across this unique jellyfish I had never seen around here before [...] So I scooped it up, put it in a ziplock bag, hopped on my scooter, and brought it back to the lab!"