Portuguese Man O'War follows 689
Portuguese Man O'War follows 689 is an auto ethnographic visualisation made from instagram accounts i followed in 2018)., aiming to translate a portion of my algorithm within 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 but are not clones of one another . 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. The Siphonophore shares and synchronises within its colony, each individual zooid doing what it is specialised to do such as propelling, reproducing or preying. But even as individuals, they cannot leave the colony. They cannot exit alone, they have to be part of the colony in order to survive, they can only ever be part of the Man O’War.
The Man O’War is lives between two worlds. For these air/water dwelling organisms, which way is up? They do not have eyes, but as they reach down into the water, or do they feel their tentacles reach up towards their prey?
If they had eyes to experience their dry opposite world, they may see their death approaching. They may conclude they are soon 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. Would they have hope that the tides will turn? That the stormy winds will cease? If they did, would they be aware 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 but are not clones of one another . 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. The Siphonophore shares and synchronises within its colony, each individual zooid doing what it is specialised to do such as propelling, reproducing or preying. But even as individuals, they cannot leave the colony. They cannot exit alone, they have to be part of the colony in order to survive, they can only ever be part of the Man O’War.
The Man O’War is lives between two worlds. For these air/water dwelling organisms, which way is up? They do not have eyes, but as they reach down into the water, or do they feel their tentacles reach up towards their prey?
If they had eyes to experience their dry opposite world, they may see their death approaching. They may conclude they are soon 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. Would they have hope that the tides will turn? That the stormy winds will cease? If they did, would they be aware they are helpless anyway; It is not in their control.