Portuguese Man O'War follows 689 is a mosaic made up of the profile photo’s of every account I am following on Instagram (2018). This is an auto ethnographic visualisation translating my individual cybercircle within that one social media container.
The Portuguese Man O’war is a species of siphonophore. Unlike most of them, the Man O’War lives upon the air/water interface thanks to a bloated gas balloon that acts as a float and wind sail. The Man O’War has specialised zooids and is a colony of individuals. These individuals are produced asexually however are not exact clones of one another like the salp or the pyrosome. The Man O’War is a hunter, it actively grabs its prey, small fish and uses acidic venom to liquefy it. This is then pulsed throughout the entire colony by the feeding zooids allowing the entire colony to be well fed. This venom also acts as a defence releasing a fierce sting. The Siphonophore shares and synchronises within its colony, each zooid doing what it is specialised to do. But even as individuals, they cannot leave the colony. They cannot exit alone, they have to be part of the colonial being to exist, they can only ever be part of the Man O’War.
One of the most interesting thing about the Man O’War is that it lives in two existing worlds. For these air/water dwelling organisms, which way is up? Although they do not have eyes, do they reach down into the water, or do they feel their tentacles reach up towards their prey?
If they had eyes to experience their opposite world, they would see their death approaching. They would conclude they are to be washed ashore, to be beached and await the sun to bleach away their lucid blue bodies. The seabed continuously getting closer and closer, their tentacles begin to drag along the shells, snagging and tearing as the tide and winds force their body to the shallows. The dread to hopelessly wait for that moment to not relentlessly see the ever approaching seabed. Do they have hope that the tides will turn or the stormy winds will cease? If they do, they are helpless anyway; It is not in their control.
The Portuguese Man O’war is a species of siphonophore. Unlike most of them, the Man O’War lives upon the air/water interface thanks to a bloated gas balloon that acts as a float and wind sail. The Man O’War has specialised zooids and is a colony of individuals. These individuals are produced asexually however are not exact clones of one another like the salp or the pyrosome. The Man O’War is a hunter, it actively grabs its prey, small fish and uses acidic venom to liquefy it. This is then pulsed throughout the entire colony by the feeding zooids allowing the entire colony to be well fed. This venom also acts as a defence releasing a fierce sting. The Siphonophore shares and synchronises within its colony, each zooid doing what it is specialised to do. But even as individuals, they cannot leave the colony. They cannot exit alone, they have to be part of the colonial being to exist, they can only ever be part of the Man O’War.
One of the most interesting thing about the Man O’War is that it lives in two existing worlds. For these air/water dwelling organisms, which way is up? Although they do not have eyes, do they reach down into the water, or do they feel their tentacles reach up towards their prey?
If they had eyes to experience their opposite world, they would see their death approaching. They would conclude they are to be washed ashore, to be beached and await the sun to bleach away their lucid blue bodies. The seabed continuously getting closer and closer, their tentacles begin to drag along the shells, snagging and tearing as the tide and winds force their body to the shallows. The dread to hopelessly wait for that moment to not relentlessly see the ever approaching seabed. Do they have hope that the tides will turn or the stormy winds will cease? If they do, they are helpless anyway; It is not in their control.