4/27/2023 0 Comments Cassiopeia jelly![]() Most sources call it) with a coveted gift unheard of in most of the animal kingdom: biological immortality. Less than half an inch in length with a fairly conventional anatomy, Turritopsis nutricula is a tiny Hydroid (not truly a "jellyfish" as You can see Stygiomedusa, Tiburonia and both Deepstaria species in action in this gorgeous footage from MBARI! Interestingly, every specimen ever observed has been inhabited by a single isopod crustacean, presumably a parasite. Deepstaria reticulum is the smaller, redder and baggier of the two, seen here with its bell closed tight.ĭeepstaria enigmatica is larger and clearer, holding itself open in this shot. ![]() Related to our black and red giants, the two known species of Deepstaria lack tentacles or even prominent arms, engulfing prey whole into their huge, broad bells like living, swimming stomachs, lined with a webbing of vein-like channels to evenly distribute digested nutrients. Not as nightmare-inducing as its darker cousin, but still large enough to swallow your head. It, too, has only oral arms, without stinging tentacles, but grows only three feet across. Recognition as a distinct species in the 2000's. Slightly less imposing is Tiburonia Granrojo or "big red," long mistaken for a juvenile gigantea until its Though harmless to us, there's something even I find unnerving about this dark, faceless cloak drifting through the lightless deep. More then a meter across and grey-black from top to bottom. Jellyfish, it instead trails abnormally large, sheet-like oral arms over twenty feet in length, billowing from a bell Rarely seen by man, very little is known about the deep-sea titan Stygiomedusa gigantea. Upside-down jellies often congregate in large numbers, forming group "gardens" to protect one This ridiculous behavior not only gives the jelly's algae garden maximum sunĮxposure, but makes it more difficult for predators to sneak around the stinging tentacles and attack the body. Imagine a wind-up toy that keeps pushing itself against the same wall, and you've got an idea of how these jellies stay in place. Pumping their bell to avoid floating away. Seem to take it the farthest, spending most of their lives lying upside-down on the sea bed, still constantly Of all these solar-powered jellies, the Cassiopeia Tissues, sustaining themselves off no more than sunlight. Many species of jellyfish cultivate photosynthetic algae in their own Leaving their host, they may seek out another or mature into more typical, fully carnivorous anemones. One of the few parasitic Cnidaria outside the myxozoa, Edwardsiella lineata spend their larval stage buried in the body of a Ctenophore or "comb jelly", stealing food straight from the host's gut. Many species prefer to attach themselves to particular seaweeds, Release their stalk and ride the current. If they need to move, they may roll or "somersault" in a darling inchworm-like manner or Of their bell, which they use to attach "head"-first to solid surfaces and act more like their anemone cousins, trapping Tiny jellyfish that abandoned swimming, the Stauromedusae have an adhesive stalk growing from the center Predators - the anemone's enemy's enemies. Releases a bioluminescent slime into the water, which may serve to attract the attention of even bigger Have previously read about the deep ocean's carnivorous tunicates. Victims who could have struggled free from a more conventional anemone. Its sticky, stinging tentacles line a folded maw like the leaves of its namesake, snapping shut over Meals can be few and far between in the deep sea abyss, and Actinoscyphia doesn't take anyĬhances. Guys are the most extreme, unusual and just plain fascianting the brainlessest, tentacledest, blobbiest blobs in the sea! Off the deep end and decides they still aren't weird enough? As brainless, tentacled blobs of slime go, these Jellyfish, corals and anemones are already pretty damn weird, so what happens when mother nature goes
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