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Galleries / Are Jellyfish Taking Over the World?

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published September 13, 2007

Stellamedusa Ventana

Aeginura grimaldii

Atolla jelly

Ctenophore

Nausithoe

Poralia rufescens

Praya siphonophore

Red lobate ctenophore

Solmissus incisa

Solmissus jelly

Stellamedusa ventana

<p>This lab photo highlights the bumps that give <i>S. ventana</i> its common name, "bumpy." Each one contains hundreds of stinging cells, used for capturing and holding on to prey.</p>
<p><i>A. grimaldii</i> is a narcomedusa, typically found at depths of 1,000 meters or more. Very little is known about this beautiful jellyfish.</p>
<p>Photographed about 1000 meters below the surface of Monterey Bay</p>
<p>To humans, this ctenophore is a beautiful light show. To tiny sea animals it's a predator with long, stinging tentacles.</p>
<p>Not an alien spacecraft but a deepwater jelly in Monterey Bay.</p>
<p>Medusa jellies are shaped like disks or bells, with a fringe of stinging tentacles. Most range from 1 to 16 inches in diameter.</p>
<p>The genus <i>Praya</i> probably contains the longest animals in the world; their tails or "stems" can grow up to 50 meters. They are very abundant at times and are top predators in some midwater food chains.</p>
<p>A fairly common midwater jelly, sometimes a dominant predator in the middle depths (200-400 meters) of Monterey Bay.</p>
<p>This <i>Solmissus</i> jelly is swimming in hunting position, with its tentacles extended in front of its bell.</p>
<p><i>Stellamedusa ventana</i> has been observed off the coast of California and in the Gulf of California, but the full extent of its range remains unknown. In over thirteen years of deep-ocean diving, MBARI scientists have only seen this jelly seven times.</p>

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