“ Bluebottles are similar to the Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis) in appearance and behavior, but are smaller and less venomous. And unlike the Portuguese Man o’ War, bluebottle stings have yet to cause any human fatalities.”
But the bluebottle seems to be called the “pacific man-o ‘war”, thus some potential for mixing them up, or adding another subspecies, etc. Not an expert.
My guess is that they are confusing blue bottles with blue bottons (Porpita porpita). The floating ones comprise Physalia, Velella and Porpita. Is an oceanic trilogy.
“ Bluebottles are similar to the Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis) in appearance and behavior, but are smaller and less venomous. And unlike the Portuguese Man o’ War, bluebottle stings have yet to cause any human fatalities.”
https://oceana.org/marine-life/bluebottle/#:~:text=Bluebottl....
But the bluebottle seems to be called the “pacific man-o ‘war”, thus some potential for mixing them up, or adding another subspecies, etc. Not an expert.