# My Arm and a Jellyfish...What the Hell Happened??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514 "2014-06-24T04:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/21 "2014-06-24T22:35:01Z")
Important safety note: If you go to Australia, don’t go swimming without proper training (and possibly a hazmat suit). ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/22 "2014-06-24T23:22:43Z")
i believe the jellyfish i encountered were man o’ wars, or is it men o’ war, whatever, so they aren’t really jellyfish? how are they different??? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/23 "2014-06-25T00:54:10Z")
It’s complicated and I don’t know enough biology to be able to boil it down for you, but there is reasonably complete information on Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese\_man\_o](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_man_o)’\_war ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/24 "2014-06-25T18:27:03Z")
why does everyone quote wikieffingpedia all the time? it’s far from an authority ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/25 "2014-06-25T18:46:14Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > [Vinegar on jellyfish sting can be deadly: researchers](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/vinegar-on-jellyfish-sting-can-be-deadly-researchers-20140408-zqs8b.html) It’s one study. > [@Suicide](#): > > why does everyone quote wikieffingpedia all the time? it’s far from an authority Because it cites its sources. If you find an unattributed assertion in a Wikipedia entry, you can ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/26 "2014-06-26T00:32:07Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Because it cites its sources. If you find an unattributed assertion in a Wikipedia entry, you can ignore it. And while it suffers from vandalism, it’s usually of the extremely obvious and easily reverted variety. “The Portuguese man o’ boobs is a poopy wee wee butthole…” On another topic probably worth its own thread, could somebody explain to me what makes a Portuguese man o’ war a colonial organism? I mean, I understand that they are considered 4 specialized zooids connected together functioning essentially as a single entity. Okay. But why do we classify each zooid as a separate organism rather than just as an organ of a single organism? It’s not like 4 zooids randomly meet together to form a new man o’ war–they all bud from the same structure and were all produced (as I understand it) from the same gametes. Further complicating things is the fact that I’ve read (and totally understand) that colonial organisms are defined by the fact that each individual within the colony can survive on its own, while everything I’ve read about the Portuguese man o’ war suggests that each zooid is so dependent on the others that it _cannot_ survive on its own. 😕 So what makes, say, a gonozooid different from a reproductive organ? ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/27 "2014-06-26T01:12:26Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > On another topic probably worth its own thread, could somebody explain to me what makes a Portuguese man o’ war a colonial organism? I mean, I understand that they are considered 4 specialized zooids connected together functioning essentially as a single entity. Okay. But why do we classify each zooid as a separate organism rather than just as an organ of a single organism? It’s not like 4 zooids randomly meet together to form a new man o’ war–they all bud from the same structure and were all produced (as I understand it) from the same gametes. > > Further complicating things is the fact that I’ve read (and totally understand) that colonial organisms are defined by the fact that each individual within the colony can survive on its own, while everything I’ve read about the Portuguese man o’ war suggests that each zooid is so dependent on the others that it _cannot_ survive on its own. 😕 So what makes, say, a gonozooid different from a reproductive organ? I was wondering the same thing. The wiki link given above notes that the PMoW is a siphonophore. As such, it is apparently a shade of grey on a black/white spectrum with multicellular organisms at one end and colonial organisms at the other. [QUOTE=wiki] Each zooid is an individual, but their integration with each other is so strong, the colony attains the character of one large organism. Indeed, most of the zooids are so specialized, they lack the ability to survive on their own. Siphonophorae thus exist at the boundary between colonial and complex multicellular organisms. [/QUOTE] from here: [Siphonophorae - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siphonophorae) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/28 "2014-06-26T02:35:49Z")
> [@Suicide](#): > > why does everyone quote wikieffingpedia all the time? it’s far from an authority Because it’s concise, accessible to laymen, and at the right level of detail for most discussions like this. I’m not citing it as a source for a PhD thesis. [Try](http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war/) [this](http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/MarineInvertebrateZoology/Physaliaphysalis.html) if you don’t care for that. Or try your luck with [this](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0305049174900273)(abstract only, charge for full article.) Or even do your own search. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/29 "2014-06-26T02:50:05Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > It’s hard to say, **I wouldn’t want to make any rash judgements.** > > More seriously though, I’ve never heard of that kind of reaction myself - usually it’s more like a bunch of lines, not one solid rash. just wanted to say well done:p In regard to the Vinegar, at the beach at Port Douglas in far north Qld there are signs up warning people about swimming and bottles of while vinegar sitting in little pigeon holes next to the sign. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/30 "2014-06-27T18:47:02Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Well, just thank your lucky stars that you weren’t swimming in northern Australia. > [Let me introduce the Box Jellyfish](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_jellyfish) > > Come and visit anytime…if we don’t kill ya, you’ll have some amazing stories to tell the folks back home! > > 😃 Just more proof that Australia is the most bizarre and evil of all continents. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/31 "2014-06-27T20:03:37Z")
Okay, I’m taking the “Swim with the Box Jellies Attraction” off my “Things to do when I visit Australia” list. And I don’t care what the Aussie tourist people say, I’m going to wear a pickelhaube there as protection against dropbears! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/32 "2014-06-27T20:10:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Important safety note: If you go to Australia, don’t go swimming There, fixed that for you. ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514/33 "2014-06-27T20:57:28Z")
isn’t there ONE stinkin’ doctor on this board who can tell me what happened? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-arm-and-a-jellyfish-what-the-hell-happened/691514.md?page=1)