The Mesmerising Hues of Atlantic Portuguese Man O' War

Katie invites Irene Mendez Cruz to share her photo series exploring the bizarre beauty of these unique creatures. 

Irene is a French-Venezuelan marine and natural history researcher and photographer. Having previously studied politics, Irene has a keen interest to combine her background in social science with her skills in photography as a tool to communicate stories of conservation.  

 She shares with us her knowledge and photographic work documenting Atlantic Portuguese Man O’ War. Often mistaken for jellyfish, she explains they are actually siphonophores from the Physaliidae family, ‘A floating colony of specialised organisms that work together as one’. It is ‘The sail-shape of their crest that gives it its name, as it was believed to look like an 18th-century Portuguese battleship.’ 

During the autumn of 2017, a record number of these marine creatures were washed ashore on the south-west of England. Irene was inspired to document this species after the media depicted them in a negative light. As they can remain venomous after they have died, they were considered a public health risk and instead of being put back in the water they were collected by local authorities and disposed of. Irene took the opportunity to photograph the creatures and collected specimens at a site in St Ives, with the intent to shed light on their exquisite appearance. Showing that there is certainly more to them than just a venomous nature.   

 Having grown up in a family of artists, Irene often finds herself drawn to patterns and abstractions and whilst she didn’t have access to a professional studio, she knew she had to find a way to utilise the photographic possibilities she envisioned with this opportunity.  

 ‘I had to improvise one in my house with a makeshift light table with recycled plastic panels, spare black & white sheets and a tank that I managed to borrow from a friend. My home studio allowed me the freedom to experiment and really push my creativity to reveal their almost unnatural vivid blues, pinks and purples as well as their peculiar texture. Portuguese Man O’ War are rarely seen under this light or from up-close.’

There are many extraordinary features of the siphonophores unknown the viewer as first glance. Irene is kind enough to talk us through some of them. As previously mentioned, they are not an individual organism but a floating colony of specialised organisms.  She explains; ‘Each group of polyps, or ‘zooids’, that make up the Man o’ War serves a different function. They have to work together to survive: to kill their prey, digest them and even reproduce themselves. Below the surface of the water, their ‘Gastrozooids’ are in charge of the feeding whilst the ‘gonozooids’ take care of the reproduction.’ 

 ‘Dactylozooids make up their tentacles which can grow up to 30 m in length and are covered in stinging nematocysts, used to catch prey or as a defence mechanism. These are microscopic capsules, loaded with coiled, barbed tubes that, when triggered, can fire venom capable of paralyzing and killing small fish and other small creatures.’ 

 Irene felt it was important to photograph the creatures upright, in an act to capture them how they would be positioned in their natural habitat floating in the water.  One of their most important features is the top area filled with atmospheric gases, as it allows them to navigate the ocean.  Irene reveals their astonishing ability to self-deflate, meaning they can safely submerge themselves if they encounter any protentional threats in the water.  She also explains the reasoning being their transparent blue and purple-hued exterior. Which allows them to camouflage out in the ocean from predators. Lastly, ‘because they spend their lives exposed to sunlight at the surface of the water, some scientists believe that their colouration might have something to do with their exceptional ability to absorb UV radiation.’ 

 If you’d like to see more of Irene’s work, such as her documentary projects exploring the Caribbean coast of Panama and her work with tropical Heliconius butterflies be sure to check out her website here and follow along on her Instagram.