The Portuguese man-of-war is made up of hundreds of small polyps.
It is not known if removing smaller polyps lowers the risk of colorectal cancer.
Once attached the larva encysts before developing into a small polyp followed by the adult form.
A year later, he had four very small polyps.
Most small polyps (less than 1 cm) are not cancerous and may remain unchanged for years.
Laparoscopic surgery is an option for small or solitary polyps.
A related species is M. annularis, which has smaller polyps.
Some desperation owing to advancing years and small polyps detected in the throat.
In addition, one animal was found to possess no small or large intestinal polyps.