Shore life · La Saladita, Guerrero

Indo-Pacific Man-O-War

Physalia utriculus

Spanish: Fragata indopacífica

Indo-Pacific Man-O-War (Physalia utriculus)
Photographed by alan_gnov on iNaturalist · CC-BY-NC

The Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis), also known as the man-of-war or bluebottle, is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It was once thought that there was only one species in the genus Physalia, which in turn would make it the only genus in the family Physaliidae. But recently, through whole genome sequencing, researchers discovered that 4 species exist: Physalia physalis, Physalia utriculus, Physalia megalista and Physalia minuta. It’s...

TaxonomyHydrozoa › Siphonophorae › Physaliidae
Local records14 research-grade observations within about 50 km of La Saladita (the survey box also takes in Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and Troncones)
Global records5,090 on iNaturalist
Most recent records2024 – 2026
Months of the 8 most recent records
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Recent local sightings

Interactive card with more photos, sounds and similar species Shore life guide iNaturalist Wikipedia

Cite as: “Indo-Pacific Man-O-War (Physalia utriculus) at La Saladita”, La Saladita Field Guide, lasaladita.com/species/physalia-utriculus/, updated 2026-09-26. Observation counts and months come from iNaturalist research-grade records within about 50 km of 17.8375°N, 101.7606°W (the survey box also takes in Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and Troncones); summary text from Wikipedia where present.