Abstract One interesting feature of the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis) is its dimorphism, with the existence of two distinct forms (left- and right-handed individuals). The worldwide distribution of this dimorphic wind-propelled siphonophore is a much discussed but poorly understood phenomenon. Here we investigate the most likely region of origin and routes of more than 3,500 individuals of this species that were collected along the Basque coast (southeastern Bay of Biscay) in August 2010. We also test the hypothesis that most of these individuals were right-handed. To do this, we used the Sediment, Oil spill and Fish Tracking model (SOFT). From our model results, we can conclude that the region of origin of these individuals was probably located in the northern part of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The findings also suggest that our hypothesis is very likely to be correct.

中文翻译：

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葡萄牙战舰二态性与漂移的关系

摘要 葡萄牙战舰（Physalia physalis）的一个有趣特征是它的二态性，存在两种不同的形式（左撇子和右撇子）。这种双形风推进虹吸管在世界范围内的分布是一个被广泛讨论但知之甚少的现象。在这里，我们调查了 2010 年 8 月在巴斯克海岸（比斯开湾东南部）收集到的该物种的 3,500 多只个体最有可能的起源地区和路线。我们还检验了大多数这些个体是右撇子的假设. 为此，我们使用了沉积物、溢油和鱼类跟踪模型 (SOFT)。根据我们的模型结果，我们可以得出结论，这些个体的起源地区可能位于北大西洋副热带环流的北部。