Jellyfish
hideStauromedusae Coronatae Semaeostomeae Rhizostomae
Jellyfish (also known as jellies or sea jellies) are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. They have several different morphologies that represent several different cnidarian classes including the Scyphozoa (over 200 species), Staurozoa (about 50 species), Cubozoa (about 20 species), and Hydrozoa (about 1000-1500 species that make jellyfish and many more that do not). The jellyfish in these groups are also called, respectively, scyphomedusae, stauromedusae, cubomedusae, and hydromedusae; medusa is another word for jellyfish. (Medusa is also the word for jellyfish in Modern Greek, Finnish, Portuguese, Romanian, Hebrew, Serbian, Croatian, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Lithuanian, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Bulgarian and Catalan).[citation needed]
Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea.[citation needed] Some hydrozoan jellyfish, or hydromedusae, are also found in fresh water and are less than half an inch in size. They are partially white and clear and do not sting. This article focuses on scyphomedusae. These are the large, often colorful, jellyfish that are common in coastal zones worldwide.
In its broadest sense, the term jellyfish also generally refers to members of the phylum Ctenophora. Although not closely related to cnidarian jellyfish, ctenophores are also free-swimming planktonic carnivores, are generally transparent or translucent, and exist in shallow to deep portions of all the world's oceans.
For more information about Jellyfish, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with jellyfish
Aquatic creatures mix ocean water
Nov 22, 2009 |
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Understanding mixing in the ocean is of fundamental importance to modeling climate change or predicting the effects of an El Niño on our weather. Modern ocean models primarily incorporate the effects of winds and tides. However, ...
Scientists Unravel Evolution of Highly Toxic Box Jellyfish
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- With thousands of stinging cells that can emit deadly venom from tentacles that can reach ten feet in length, the 50 or so species of box jellyfish have long been of interest to scientists ...
Red Sea coral seen to feed on jellyfish
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Corals depends on the products of photosynthetic algae for most of their food, but they also eat tiny plankton. Now, for the first time, there is evidence of a coral eating jellyfish.
Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world
Nov 15, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up, a pulsating ...
Will a well-mixed, warmer lake doom invasive fish?
Jul 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The rainbow smelt, an invasive fish that threatens native species such as walleye and perch, may soon be feeling the heat -- literally.
150 years later, Darwin vindicated... by jellyfish: Researchers link tiny sea creatures to large-scale ocean mixing
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Creatures large and small may play an important role in the stirring of ocean waters, according to a study released Wednesday that confirms a theory advanced by Charles Darwin.
Jellyfish Robot Swims Like its Biological Counterpart
Jun 26, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "Jellyfish are one of the most awesome marine animals, doing a spectacular and psychedelic dance in water," explain engineers Sung-Weon Yeom and Il-Kwon Oh from Chonnam National University ...
Jellyfish joyride a threat to the oceans
Jun 08, 2009 |
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Early action could be crucial to addressing the problem of major increases in jellyfish numbers, which appears to be the result of human activities.
Jellyfish: Far from Passive Drifters-in-the-Currents
May 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you were to snorkel just before dawn at the popular tropical Pacific destination Jellyfish Lake, you'd have lots of company: millions of golden jellyfish, known to scientists as Mastigias ...
Early family ties: No sponge in the human family tree
Apr 02, 2009 |
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Since the days of Charles Darwin, researchers are interested in reconstructing the "Tree of Life", and in understanding the development of animal and plant species during their evolutionary history. In the case of vertebrates, ...
Fireflies and jellyfish help illuminate quest for cause of infertility
Mar 27, 2009 |
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Genes taken from fireflies and jellyfish are literally shedding light on possible causes of infertility and autoimmune diseases in humans.
Jellyfish protein helps regrow joint cartilage
Feb 07, 2009 |
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Mucin, a protein extracted from Nomura's jellyfish, has proved highly effective in regrowing cartilage in joints, scientists in Japan claim.


