Jellyfish First Term P3

By

Andres Garza

November 22, 2010

Jellyfish are very delicate sea animals that look friendly but they are harmful animals that can sting and hurt people. Jellyfish have no brain, eyes and have a body made with mostly water. Jellyfish have been around for along time, since the dinosaurs were alive. Jellyfish don’t have legs or hands, instead they have tentacles which sting on the bottom. Jellyfish catch their prays with their tentacles and then bring the food to their mouth.

Jellyfish

Most jellyfish are found in the ocean but some are also found in ponds and streams.

Jellyfish anchor their bodies to the pond weeds and the rocks. Jellyfish are usually

found and stay at the surface of the water but some go as low as 3300 feet under the

surface top.

Where are they found?

Whenever you see a jellyfish, especially big jellyfish be sure to

watch out for there tentacles which are on the bottom part of the

jellyfish. The jellyfish's tentacles help a lot, without them they

wouldn't be able to catch their food or survive from attacks. The

tentacles are used to kill their prey and to defend them from their

predators. The tentacles can sting if you touch them and they

cause rashes or severe injuries. Some jellyfish are much worse

than others like the jellyfish called a sea wasp which is found in the

coast of Northern Australia. If you get stung by a sea wasp you die

within 15 minutes.

Stings

Predator/Prey

To stay alive jelly fish eat plankton, tiny plants and other animals that

live near the surface of the water by using their tentacles. The

jellyfish’s prey gets stuck in their sticky tentacles, then the jellyfish

sting them which makes poison go in to the animal and kills them and

then the jellyfish brings the food up to his mouth.

The jellyfish’s Predator are harpoons and when they attack

the jellyfish stings them until a lot of poison goes in to them

but sometimes the harpoon can escape before the jellyfish

stings them too long that it kills them. Some animals like crabs

and sea turtles don't get hurt by the jellyfish’s poisonous sting

that if they eat them they don't get hurt, so crabs and sea

turtles are often found attacking and eating jellyfish. Sea slugs

can also eat jellyfish because if they get stung nothing

happens because there whole body is covered with mucus

which stops the jellyfish stings from firing.

Predators

Jellyfish StrategiesJellyfish are not fast swimmers so it is hard to out swim their predators. When jellyfish sense a predator they don’t move so when the predator goes by they don’t notice them because most jellyfish are hard to spot because you can see through them.

To make it easier to catch their prey, they also don’t move when they are close by because some jellyfish have coloured patches and fish can mistake that for food so if they get closer the jellyfish can eventually sting them. (catch the prey).

Jellyfish are not fast swimmers but they can keep swimming for a long time without being tired but since jellyfish are not fast swimmers they let the waves take them. Jellyfish rely on the oceans current to swept them to places with food but sometimes jellyfish don’t get to where they hoped to or sometimes they are swept ashore.

Swimmers

If you have ever touched a jellyfish's top it would probably be slimy. The reasons why the jellyfish is slimy is because they have a thing called mucus that they have all over them. Mucus prevents them from stinging themselves and also prevents the stings from firing crazy.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish look so much alike that you probably think there are not male or female. It is very hard to see the difference of male and females, the only difference is that male produce sperm and female make eggs. The way to make another jellyfish is that the male put sperm in the water that eventually the female jellyfish will absorb it and it starts to fertilize the eggs. The egg will hatch in a couple of days in the female jellyfish and they little jellyfish that is formed is called a Larva will come out of the mothers mouth and go out in the sea alone, the mother or father will not take any care of it.

Male or Female

There are many types of jellyfish, some sting harder and others look different and live in different places. There are sea wasps, hydras, pelagia, medusa and many more types of jellyfish. Sea wasps have a very dangerous sting that can kill humans in about 15 minutes. Hydras, unlike any other jellyfish live in ponds and are very different looking. Medusa’s look like snowflakes the top of the Medusa looks like a stack of dishes. Pelagia`s are jellyfish that make their own light which helps them attract their prey or their predators.

Types

Bibliography

Book about:Jellyfish

Kinchen,J.(1999).Jellyfish. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Educational.

The End

That is my first term P3