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Each summer, thousands of bluebottles (also known as Portuguese man-of-wars) wash up along the shores of Sydney, Australia. These remarkable relatives of jellyfish are actually colonial organisms: each is made up of four kinds of specialized, interdependent bodies called zooids. One zooid provides the gas-filled sail; when the wind catches, it whisks the bluebottle across the ocean’s surface. The other zooids take care of hunting, digestion, and reproduction.

Some of the bluebottles that arrive in Sydney get trapped in shallow rock pools, which is where I like to photograph them, because they’re more protected there from currents and waves. With their electric-blue bodies and yellow-tipped tentacles, bluebottles contrast beautifully against a dark-water background. I have to be careful, though: the tentacles pack powerful venom for catching and killing prey, such as larval fish. Although not usually deadly to humans, the sting can be nasty.

For this particular image, I went out at sunrise so I could use backlighting to isolate the bluebottle from its background. I also added a touch of artificial strobe light to illuminate its lower portion.