The story started
Pick your Jellyfish
There are so many types of jellyfish. Below are a few!
For the purposes of our performance, we invite you to choose from five species of Jellyfish to come up with your Jellyfish name.
Upside Down Jelly Fish
Fried Egg Jellyfish
Medusa Jellyfish
Cauliflower Jellyfish
Bloodbelly Comb Jellyfish
Then if you feel inspired, dress up with your Jellyfish in mind (bearing in mind we will only see your top half).
When you enter the site, you can rename yourself incorporating your Jellyfish self.
We look forward to meeting your Jellyfish alter ego soon!
(Read about these Jellies and more below)
1. Crystal Jellyfish
Coming in at number one is the Crystal jellyfish. Located in the waters around North America's coast, this jellyfish species is actually completely colorless, hence its name! This beautiful specimen has around 150 tentacles lining its glass-like bell and in the daylight looks crystal clear. Although, this transparency belies a brighter side.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium says that
"Crystal jellies are brightly luminescent jellies, with glowing points around the margin of the umbrella.
The components required for bioluminescence include a Calcium++ activated photoprotein, called aequorin that emits a blue-green light, and an accessory green fluorescent protein (GFP), which accepts energy from aequorin and re-emits it as a green light.
Scientists have created 'green mice' that glow green when hit by blue light by inserting the GFP gene from the crystal jelly into the mice. The glowing protein is a widely used biological highlighter that helps scientists find and study genes more quickly"
Bloodybelly Comb Jellyfish
Ranking high in the charts for the coolest and beautiful jelly-fish, is our next contender, the Bloodybelly Comb jellies, which, technically speaking are comb jellies and are only very distantly related to the jellyfish. This one doesn't have the famous jellyfish stinging tentacles that others possess, and it is actually a harmless Comb jelly to humans.
However, what they lack in tentacles they certainly make up for in their cilia, cilia are tiny hair-like projections that beat back and forth to help propel it through the water. This movement of the cilia creates a beautiful sparkling lightshow showing an array of colors.
Despite a reputation of potentially being a "showoff", the red color that the Bloodybelly Comb jellies turn actually makes it nearly invisible when in deep water, which is where they are normally found.
Red looks very much like black in the depths of the ocean and specifically, the red belly of this Bloodybelly comb also helps to mask the bioluminescence glow of its prey and keeps it extra safe from the attention of its predators.
3. Cauliflower Jellyfish
Getting its name from the wart-like projections this type has on its bell resembling that of a vegetable, we give you the Cauliflower jellyfish also referred to as the Crown jellyfish! While this jelly may not sound the prettiest of its species, it is still a truly beautiful species of jellyfish.
Most commonly found within the waters of the mid-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific and sometimes also around the Atlantic Ocean off of the West African coast. The Cauliflower jelly grows relatively large in size reaching up to 1.5 to 1.9 feet in diameter.
Although it is one of the most venomousof the jellyfish species they are actually harmless to humans. What do jellyfish eat? just plankton, algae, shrimp, and invertebrate eggs. Although they have 30 filaments with stinging cells sticking out from their bell, they are harmless to humans, so no painful stings from these little marine animals.
Very much like its vegetable nickname, this kind is often also found on dinner plates! Mostly in China and Japan where the species is considered to be a delicacy and is also known to be used for medicinal purposes within these locations.
4. White-spotted Jellyfish
At number four on, we have the White-spotted jellyfish. These jellies have very mild venom and therefore any jellyfish stings from its stinging cells are harmless to us humans. In fact, the white-spotted jelly doesn't generally even use their venom to catch food at all!
What do the jellyfish eat? Well, these are what's known as a filter feeder, similar to oysters and sponges. They can filter over 50 cubic meters of ocean water every single day! The only downside of this type of jellyfish is that a swarm (or bloom) of these jellies can clear an area of zooplankton! Greedy little things!
Causing a shortage for the fish and crustaceans that also munch on the microscopic marine life. In such areas where the white-spotted jelly is considered to be an invasive species, such as the Gulf of California, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, their hungry appetite poses somewhat of a problem for the native species from shrimps to corals.
5. Black Sea Nettle Jellyfish
Next, one of the largest jellyfish (the largest jellyfish is the Lion Mane jellyfish) is the Black Sea Nettles jellyfish! This particular species can be found in the deep sea Pacific waters around Southern California.
The bell of the Black Sea Nettles can reach up to three-foot across, its long tentacles reach up to 20 feet in length, and its stinging tentacles 25 feet long. Without saying, it would be pretty damn scary if you caught yourself in the middle of a bloom of these giants while in the water, but don't worry too much as they are not that common to a lot of ocean waters.
Although it is called a Black Sea Nettle, the bell is only black on the mature jellies, with the bell of immature and small mature jellies being a reddish to maroon colour, while the tentacles are whitish-pink and oral arms a reddish-pink in both the large and small black sea nettle.
Considering their size, which is large, this is one of the jellyfish species that are relatively new to science and we don't actually know that much about them. It has been said that this is partly due to them being very difficult to raise in captivity and they aren't very often discovered in the wild.
There has, however, previous encounters where the largest blooms of Black Sea Nettles have surfaced in 1989, 1999, and in 2010. But other than these occurrences, what the largest of the jellies tend to get up to it a little bit of a mystery.
6. Fried Egg Jellyfish
At sixth on our celebratory list, is the Fried Egg Jelly. Now, I wonder why they call this the Fried Egg, any ideas. Another of the jellies that have venom but does not usually affect humans, in fact, its sting is so mild that the tentacles are sometimes used to by small fish to provide shelter in the open ocean water.
This is the Cotylorhiza tuberculata, better known as the Fried Egg jellyfish or even the Mediterranean jelly. This particular species actually only survive for around 6 months, from the summer months until the winter, dying when the weather and water start to cool down.
If you spot them while diving, take a close look and you will be able to find the tiny fish that hide inside the tentacles for their own protection, sometimes, a smaller crab species will also take a chance and hitch a ride on the bell too!
This egg colored jellyfish can be found lazing in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea.
7. Flower Hat Jellyfish
No this isn't a species that wears a floral hat! Sorry to disappoint you! But you can see where the Flower Hat jellyfish gets its common name from. Seventh, on our list, these sea jellies are endemic to the Western Pacific, commonly found off the Southern Japan coast and also within the waters of Brazil and Argentina.
They tend to mostly hang about near the ocean floor among the seagrass rather than pulsing their way through the open ocean. For these stinging jellyfish, the seagrass is better for them in order to catch the small fish which they prey on.
Although alien-like, this is a beautiful jellyfish, but don't be fooled by the extraordinary colors of it bell that it possesses, you will know about it if it stings you as it is painful! According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium "Blooms of the flower hat jellies make swimming in coastal waters off Argentina hazardous".
The sting of this jelly is painful, leaving a bright burn like a rash. In Brazil, swarms of the Flower Hat sea jellies interfere with shrimp fishing, as they clog their nets and drive shrimp away, probably to deeper water.
8. Atolla Jellyfish
Coming in at number eight on our list it the Atolla jellyfish. Also known as the Coronate Medusa jelly, this can be found all around the world. Like, most deep sea-dwelling creatures the Atolla has super awesome bioluminescent abilities.
Most deep-sea ocean dwellers use their bioluminescence to attract prey, but this type actually uses it to keep it from becoming prey! Once attacked, the Atolla creates a series of flashes, similar to that of an emergency siren. It's the flashes that this species produces that draws in more predators.
The idea is that the predators will be more interested in the original attacker, rather than the Atolla, allowing the jelly a chance to make a getaway!It is this strategy that has given the Atolla the nickname "alarm jellyfish" deep-sea species.
9. Narcomedusae Jellyfish
Known to have a Darth Vader kind of appearance, we give you our next jelly, the Narcomedusae. Out of the different species of jellyfish, this rather unusual type has strangely,not one, but two stomach pouches. To be able to fill both pouches with prey, the Narcomedusae holds its long tentacles out in front of it when swimming.
Researchers believe that this is to make them a more effective ambush predator. According to the unexpected world of biology, the people at Creature Cast have said that
"Some species of Narcomedusae (affectionately called narcos by the people that study them) can grow inside their own mother, rather than laying the usual jellyfish eggs, and this provides nourishment and a safe environment for her young.
The narco babies can then leave their mother, find another jelly of an entirely different species, attach to its flesh, and thrive on the nourishment and safe environment it provides."
10. Pink Meanie Jellyfish
This is another of the largest jellyfish and is the Pink Meanie jellyfish! Having only been first observed in large groups in the year 2000 off of the Gulf of Mexico, it is a mystery as to how one of these pink jellyfish of this large size hadn't been discovered sooner.
So the pink meanie and its Mediterranean cousin represent a new family of jellyfish altogether, the first new family of jellies species identified since 1921.
The Pink Meanie has a taste for other jellies and actually preys on them! Using its very long, up to a 70 feet reach, tentacles to entangle them, they then reel in their victims and consume them. These creatures have been known to eat as many as 34 at a time! It sounds like something out of a horror movie, doesn't it!!
We know that this species inhabits the US Atlantic, the Coastal Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, but also perhaps other parts of the world too. The Pink Meanie is also known to be named Drymonema Larsoni after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife scientist Ronald Larson, the man that pioneered work on this species back in the early '80s
11. Mangrove Box Jelly
The mangrove box jelly is one of the smallest jellies in the sea (growing to be only the size of a grape, the Monterey Bay Aquarium says). But what's even more unique is its cube-shaped medusa, a notable deviation from the familiar dome silhouette of most jellies. Its distinct squareness allows the mangrove box jelly to move more rapidly.
12. Upside-Down Jellyfish
The upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopea) rests its bell on the surface of the seafloor and swims with its stubby oral arms facing the sky. It does this to expose the symbiotic dinoflagellates living in its tissues to the sun, allowing them to photosynthesize, the Monterey Bay Aquarium says. The upside-down jelly is found in warm water, such as that around Florida and the Caribbean.
13. Lion's Mane Jellyfish
The lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) is the largest known jellyfish species, able to grow up to six and a half feet long. The average length is a foot and a half. The Lion's "mane" is made up of hundreds (sometimes more than a thousand) of tentacles divided into eight clusters. It lives in the boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans, and is also sometimes called the Arctic red jellyfish or the hair jelly.
14. Turritopsis Nutricula
Once they're formed into jellyfish, these jellies float away with the currents, gathering food as they encounter it. The real miracle of the Turritopsis Nutricula, though, is what happens when food is scarce or they are injured or various other environmental queues occur. These events will trigger a unique mechanism within the Turritopsis Nutricula that causes it to begin to grow younger via transdifferentiation, where their cells are able to change themselves into a new cell. They continue to grow young all the way to the point where they once again become a single polyp, starting the process all over again. They will then remain a polyp for a time, even able to grow a new colony. Once again, at a certain point, free floating jellyfish form and are released from the polyp colony, each with the same genetic code as the original jellyfish that formed the polyp. It is thought that this process can go on without end, assuming the resultant jellyfish don't die of some disease or aren't killed by some predator. This effectively makes this tiny jellyfish biologically immortal.