It was another great weekend on the beach for my family and everyone has new and exciting Beach Chair Scientist questions. The best part about being a Beach Chair Scientist is to clarify misconceptions, so I am going to first start with the question, “What are jellyfish?”
Jellyfish, contrary to their popular common name, are not fish at all! As a matter of fact, neither are starfish.
In an effort to try and stop misleading people scientist and educators are transitioning to commonly referring to these creatures as jellies and seastars.
So, what are jellies then?
Well, they are basically giant plankton. Plankton is anything (living) free floating. It can be a plant (phytoplankton) or an animal (zooplankton), like the jellies. Floating is easy for them, they are over 90% percent water. People are approximately 70% water.
SCIENCE NERD ALERT: To be more exact, jellies are in the family, CNIDARIA (the c is silent). Also in this group are sea anemones and coral.
What do jellies, sea anemones and coral all have in common?
1. One giant cavity for all digestion (yup, gross)
2. Stinging cells (or more scientifically known as nemotacysts)
3. Tentacles
4. Radial symmetry (no matter how you slice it, you will have 2 halves)
Jellies are essentially a giant mouth with intestines surrounded by a see through skeleton. They basically have “nerve net” surrounding the skeleton. The “nerve net” in some species extends towards tentacles. Not all jellies have painful toxins in their tentacles.
What do you do if you are infected with a toxin tentacle?
1. Wash with soap and water
2. Apply alcohol, or meat tenderizer and Vaseline
3. Apply ice and contact a doctor
Image (c) pdphoto.org
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Pingback on Jul 13th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
[...] What are jellyfish? from July 21, [...]
July 23, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Heard about this new Web site at the NMEA conference this week. Can’t wait to read more. Thanks!