MISS SCORPIO
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The Box Jellyfish (also known as a Sea Wasp) is a very dangerous creature to inhabit Australian waters. The Jellyfish has extreme toxins present on its tentacles, which when in contact with a human, can stop cardio-respiratory functions in as little as three minutes.
This jellyfish is responsible for more deaths in Australian than Snakes, Sharks and Salt Water Crocodiles.
The creature has a square body and inhabits the north east areas of Australia. The tentacles may reach up to 80 cms in length. It is found along the coast of the Great Barrier Reef.
This deadly species of jellyfish is related to another deadly jellyfish, the irukandji jellyfish.
MISS SCORPIO
Age: 125
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Jellyfish have survived a long time in their watery habitats. Sea Jellies have lived on earth for millions of years. They can be found in all the oceans of the would. There are even some jellies that live in fresh water lakes and rivers.
Jellyfish look pretty weird because they come in strange shapes and colors. They are shaped like a bell or an inverted bowl from 3 millimeters to 2 meters in diameter. The bells of Jellyfish contain small sense organs that respond to light and gravity.
Their jelly like bodies may be nearly clear, or a color such as pale blue, orange, brown, white or pink. Although Jellyfish are often glassy or pale bluish in color, they can also be yellow, deep blue, bright purple, pale lilac, bright orange, deep red. Some Jellyfish, when they are disturbed at night, give off a cold bright light called luminescence.
Jellyfish may be tiny or quite large. Many of the most common kinds are saucer size. One specie in the cold arctic sea is huge; it's body can be more than 7 feet wide, and it's tentacles can be up to 120 feet long.
Did you ever wonder how Jellyfish reproduce with that squishy like body? Well now you're going to find out. Individual Jellyfish are either male or female. The eggs and sperm develop in special areas called Gonads inside the body wall. The gonads are frequently very colorful and add greatly to the beauty of the living Jellyfish. When all of the eggs and sperm are fully developed, they are released into the stomach and then through the mouth into the sea. Some of the eggs stick to the frilly mouth lips which surround the mouth of the Jellyfish. There they are fertilized by the sperm and continue to develop. As in all many-celled animals, the microscopic fertilized eggs begin a series of cell divisions which finally result in an embryo. However, the embryo does not develop directly into a baby jellyfish, but becomes a tiny, flattened creature called a Planula.
The Planula, which is covered with rapidly beating hairlike cilia, is able to swim and may be carried a considerable distance by ocean currents during it's short swimming period, lasting from a few hours to several days. The tiny Planula then makes its way toward the sea bottom where it actively looks for a suitable place to attach itself. At this point, a remarkable series of events take place.
The planula attaches to a rock, shell, pier pilling, or some hard underwater object and immediately begins to grow into a Polyp. The Polyp may continue to live for several years. During this time, it captures small shrimp-like organisms and other tiny marine animals for food. Furthermore, each Polyp produced from a Planula is able to reproduce new Polyps by a process called budding. In budding, completely new Polyps develop from the body wall of the original creature, much like a branch growing from the side of a tree. These become detached as separate small Polyps. This is a type of asexual reproduction, since one Polyp gives rise to several "daughter" polyps without eggs and sperm coming together. This happens usually in the spring. Each Polyp begins a different sort of asexual reproduction. At this time a series of grooves appear in the body of the Polyp, which become deeper and deeper as time goes on. Finally, the grooves become so deep, that they cut all the way though the Polyp body. In this way, a pile of disc-shaped structures resembling a stack of coins or tin saucers is formed. As a matter of fact, each of those coins is an individual baby Jellyfish of the Medusa type. It can now break off from the stack and swim away to begin it's own life as a floating Medusa.
Jellyfish eat small animals such as shrimp and plankton. Some of the animals Jellyfish eat are microscopic, too small to be seen by the human eye. They also eat other Jellyfish of other species. They catch their prey by using nematocysts, small stinging organs present in the tentacles and oral arms. Some kinds of stings are like miniature harpoons with barbs on the end that inject poison to paralyze their prey. Some Jellyfish have sticky harpoons and others wrap their harpoons around their prey to trap it. They usually wait for small animals to swim or drift into their tentacles.
Jellyfish have no intestines, liver or pancreas which are so important in the digestion of food in most animals. Jellyfish don't produce bulky waste products, and those which they do produce are passed out through their large mouth. in fact, floating animals like the Jellyfish cannot afford to carry heavy items of food in their stomach while digestion takes place, because this would increase their weight, making it more difficult to stay afloat. Therefore, the Jellyfish digest their food and get rid of the waste matter very rapidly.
Jellyfish usually drift, but occasionally you will see them swimming. Jellyfish swim by rhythmic pulsations of the umbrella or bell. The movement is very like an umbrella being open and shut slowly. It is coordinated by a very simple nervous system and by sense organs around the edge that are sensitive to light and gravity and chemicals in the water.
Did you know that Jellyfish kill more people than a great White Shark and they can sting? Most Jellyfish use their tentacles to sting there prey, but usually it is too weak to hurt people. If you get stung in the neck, the place where you got stung will swell up and you will suffocate. The Box Jellyfish is one of the most deadly Jellyfish. In Australia, they kill up to 65 people a year. When a Jellyfish stings a person, they can die in less than three minutes.
Jellyfish don't have many enemies, but there are some animals like a Banner fish that isn't bothered by their tentacles. The Arrow Crab will gobble up the Jellyfish in one bite. Other animals like turtles will eat them. Certain fish and snails nibble on their tentacles.
You would be surprised how differently jellyfish breath than Man or other fish. Jellyfish have no lungs or no gills or any special breathing organs. The walls of the body and tentacles are so thin that the oxygen molecules are able to pass directly from the water into the internal organs and the carbon dioxide molecules pass out of the body in the same wag. Thus, one might say that a Jellyfish breathes with it's entire body.
Did you ever wonder if jellyfish feel, hear, smell, or taste? If your answer is yes, read this and find out. Unlike more complex animals, the senses of jellyfish are limited. Sea jellies have touch receptors on their tentacles and around their mouths to help capture food. These touch receptors may also detect vibrations in the water caused by the movement of a fish, crab, or other animal swimming by. Sea jellies do not have a nose or tongue. They have special cells that smell and taste scattered all over their bodies. Sea jellies do not have eyes like human eyes, but many have light-sensitive organs around the margins of their bodies. In most cases, these organs do not detect shapes or movement, but allow the jelly to tell light from dark. Jellies can tell up from down by sensing the sunlight at the surface of the ocean.
Did you know there are people who study Jellyfish, but Jellyfish are not an endangered species. For many years, Jelly researchers were more interested in finding ways to get rid of these fascinating animals than they were in understanding them. Today, scientists appreciate the amazing things these simple creatures can do and are beginning to recognize the important role they play in the chain of life in the ocean.
What kinds of research do jelly scientists do? Some are continuing to search for an effective anti-venom that will save victims of Sea Wasp stings. Others are studying the chemicals in Medusa and other Jellies for possible use in treating cancer and other diseases. One of the bioluminescent chemicals found in a Medusa jelly from the Pacific Northwest has already been found to be useful in certain types of Medical research. This substance allows doctors to trace the movement of specific chemicals through the body.
MISS SCORPIO
Age: 125
8067 days old here
Total Posts: 22358
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Location:
United Kingdom, United Kingdom
It is the tentacles that make the Jellyfish so dangerous, for on them are stinging cells called nematocysts. When the umbrella-like jellyfish moves through the water, its tentacles drift along behind it. Jellyfish do not attack their prey rapidly like sharks and other fish. They might slowly propel themselves along, but usually they lie in wait for sea creatures to come to them. Whatever living thing they touch, they sting.
All of the 200 varieties of jellyfish have stinging ability, which they use to paralyze the prey that comes within touch of their tentacles. The poison from the nematocysts of the jellyfish varies with the species. Some stings are very harmful to humans, while others will merely cause skin irritation.
Jellyfish are among the most dangerous creatures of the ocean. It is hard to realize this from their looks, for they appear to be nothing more than near-transparent blobs with long, dangling tentacles.
The deadliest jellyfish, the sea wasp, has a poison which can kill a person in 20 minutes by paralyzing the heart!