system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why is the man o war jelly fish considered a colony of cells as opposed to one organism?

I'm trying to understand the functional difference between the various zooids in this siphonophore. It seems as though all zooids branch from the same egg (I think? ) so theoretically they should share the same DNA. If they do share the same DNA and essentially differentiate into a few different functions (i.e. gastric or singing) then why are the zooids considered separate organisms and not just specialized cells or organs in one single organism?
gpt
So the big difference between a colonial organism and a single multicellular organism is how it forms. Humans and other multicellular organisms all arise from a single cell which divides and specializes to create the whole organism. In the case of the Man-o-war, like many other animals of the Cnidarians has a two-stage lifestyle. One is what you think of when you think Man-o-war, the other is a polyp which resembles a sea anemone. The polyp can asexually divide to create multiple clones which each specialize to become a zooid and form the colonial organism known as a Man-o-war. The important distinction is how they form, they originate as individuals even if they later form a colony.