Jellyfish

Jellyfish

A community portal about Jellyfish with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Jellyfish are marine invertebrates belonging to the Scyphozoan class, and in turn the phylum Cnidaria. The body of an adult jellyfish is... [more]

A community portal about Jellyfish with blogs, videos, and photos. According to Wikipedia.org: Jellyfish are marine invertebrates belonging to the Scyphozoan class, and in turn the phylum Cnidaria. The body of an adult jellyfish is composed of a bell-shaped, jellylike substance enclosing its internal structure, from which the creature's tentacles suspend. Each tentacle is covered with stinging cells that can sting or kill other animals: most jellyfish use them to secure prey or as a defense mechanism. Others, such as Rhizostomae, do not have tentacles at all. To compensate for its lack of basic sensory organs and a brain, the jellyfish exploits its nervous system and rhopalia to perceive stimuli, such as light or odor, and orchestrate expedient responses. In its adult form, it is composed of 94–98% water and can be found in every ocean in the world.

Rainbow Jellyfish

“Jellyfish!”

Neatorama just posted a cool link to this National Geographic news story about a rare Rainbow Jellyfish. According to the report, “The jellyfish does not emit its own light, as bioluminescent creatures do. Rather, its rainbow glow emanates from light reflecting off the creature’s cilia, small hair-like projections that beat simultaneously to move the jellyfish through the water.” Awesome. This actually reminds me of a scene in the Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which I saw again last night on IFC (great film, by the way) where hundreds of “Electric Jellyfish” wash up on the beach and Zissou’s crew run out to film it.

Thanks to Neatorama for the tip!

Sponsors
Comments
Be the first to leave a comment!
Add a Comment:
Already a member? Log In
Sponsors
About the Author

19 Kudos
Top Geek Articles
Celebrities on the Phone
Cell phones are to celebrities like bats are to baseball: no one runs too far without them.
Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit.
Gratuitous...
Hot Geeks -- The Sexiest Geeky Girls
These girls are gorgeous AND they'll play Warcraft with you. Doesn't get much better than that.
More From Zimbio
Copyright © 2009 - Zimbio, Inc. Some rights reserved.