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RE: the longest animal?
At 12:54 PM 3/20/98 -0800, Nathan Myrhvold wrote:
>The longest inverterbrate is likely to be a Portugese Man 'O War jellyfish
>(Physalia physalis and P. utriculus) which has tenticles up to 50 meters
>long.
Not to get pedantic (what, ME? Pedantic? :-), but Physalia is not a proper
jellyfish (i.e., a member of the Scyphozoa). It is a member of the
Siphonophora, which form mass colonies. Thus, the 50 m lengths are for
colonies, rather than individuals. True jellyfish are individual medusae.
Still, stay away from them, colony or not!
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD 20742 Fax: 301-314-9661