Jellyfish are a very common and most amazing species of living creatures that inhabit the seas and oceans. They can be admired endlessly. What types of jellyfish are, where they live, how they look, read in this article.
General information about jellyfish
They belong to the intestinal cavity and are part of their life cycle, which happens in two stages: asexual and sexual. Adult jellyfish are dioecious, their reproduction occurs sexually. The role of the male is to sweep the sexual products into the water, which can immediately enter the corresponding organs of the female or fertilize directly in the water. It depends on the variety of jellyfish. Emerging larvae are called planula.
They have the ability to exhibit phototaxis, that is, they move to a light source. Obviously, they need to be in the water for some time, and not immediately fall to the bottom. The freely moving life of the planets does not last long, for about a week. After that, they begin to settle to the very bottom, where they are attached to the substrate. Here they are transformed into a polyp or scyphoid, the reproduction of which occurs by budding.
This is called asexual reproduction, which can be carried out indefinitely, until favorable conditions for the formation of jellyfish come. Gradually, the body of the polyp acquires transverse constrictions, then the process of strobilization and the formation of young disk jellyfish - ethers take place.
They are mostly plankton. Subsequently, mature and become adult jellyfish. Thus, for asexual reproduction - budding, the water temperature may be low. But, having overcome a certain temperature barrier, dioecious jellyfish are formed.
Class of hydroid jellyfish
To entericients include single or colonial aquatic inhabitants. Almost all of them are predators. Their food is plankton, larvae and fry of fish. Intestinal types of jellyfish have ten thousand species. They are divided into classes: hydroid, scyphoid and coral polyps. The first two classes are usually combined into a subspecies of jellyfish.
Hydroid intestinal jellyfish are characteristic representatives of freshwater polyps. Their habitual habitat are lakes, ponds and rivers. The body has a cylindrical shape and the sole is attached to the substrate. The opposite end is crowned with a mouth with tentacles located around it. Fertilization occurs inside the body. If the hydra is cut into many pieces or turned on the other side, it will continue to grow and live. The length of her body is green or brown in color reaches one centimeter. Hydra does not live long, only one year.
Scyphoid jellyfish
They are free-floating and have different sizes. The size of some species is only a few millimeters, while others are two to three meters. An example is cyanidea. Her tentacles can be extended twenty meters in length. The polyp is poorly developed or completely absent. The intestinal cavity is divided into chambers by septum.
Scyphoid jellyfish can live up to several months. For about two hundred species, the place of residence is the temperate and tropical waters of the oceans. There are jellyfish that people eat. These are cornerota and aurelia, they are salted. Many types of scyphoid jellyfish cause burns and redness of the body when touched. For example, chirodrofus even causes fatal burns in humans.
Jellyfish aurelia eared
There are different types of jellyfish. A photo of one of them is presented to your attention. This is a scyphoid jellyfish Aurelia eared. Her breathing is carried out by the whole transparent and gelatinous body, in which there are twenty-four eyes. Sensitive bodies - ropalia - are located around the entire perimeter of the body. They perceive environmental impulses. It could be light.
Jellyfish eats food and removes its remains from the body through the mouth opening, around which four mouth blades are located. They have stinging cells containing a burning substance that serves as a jellyfish defense and helps to get food. Aurelia is not adapted to life on land, as it consists of water.
Medusa Cornerot
It is popularly called the "Umbrella." The habitat of jellyfish is the Black, Azov and Baltic Seas. Cornerot fascinates with its beauty. The body of the jellyfish is translucent with a blue or purple border, reminiscent of a lampshade or umbrella. Its feature is that most often it floats on its side and does not have a mouth. Instead, holes of small diameter are scattered on the blades, through which it feeds. Cornerot lives and reproduces in the water column at great depths. In case of accidental contact with a jellyfish, you can get a burn.
Unusual habitat
Scientists from Israel have proven that freshwater jellyfish are found on the Golan Heights in lakes. They were first seen by children. Then individual copies were placed in a bottle and handed over to Professor Gofen. He carefully studied them in the laboratory. It turned out that this is a local colony of one of the freshwater hydroid jellyfish, which were described in England in 1880. Then these jellyfish were discovered in a pool with aquatic tropical plants. According to the professor, the mouth opening of the jellyfish is surrounded by numerous stinging cells with which it catches planktonic organisms. For humans, these jellyfish are not dangerous.
Freshwater Jellyfish
These coelenterates inhabit the waters of only the seas and oceans. But, there is one exception, called a freshwater Amazonian jellyfish. Its habitat is South America, namely the basin of a large river on the mainland - the Amazon. Hence the name. Today, this species has spread everywhere, and quite by accident, during the transport of fish from the seas and oceans. The jellyfish is very small, reaching only two centimeters in diameter. Now it inhabits slow, calm and stagnant waters, dams, canals. The food is zooplankton.
Biggest jellyfish
This is cyanide or lion's mane. In nature, there are different types of jellyfish, but this one is special. After all, it was her who was described by Conan Doyle in his story. This is a very large jellyfish, whose umbrella reaches two meters in diameter and twenty tentacles. They look like a tangled ball of raspberry red.
In the central part, the umbrella is yellowish, and its edges are dark red. The lower part of the dome is endowed with a mouth opening, around which there are sixteen large folded mouth blades. They hang down, resembling curtains. Cyanoea moves very slowly, mainly along the surface of the water. This is an active predator, feeds on planktonic organisms and small jellyfish. Habitat - cold waters. It is common, but not dangerous. The resulting burns do not lead to death, but can cause painful redness.
Jellyfish "Purple Sting"
This species is common in the oceans with warm and temperate waters: found in the Mediterranean and Kara Seas, in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These types of jellyfish usually live away from the coast. But sometimes they can form flocks in the coastal waters, and in large quantities can be found on the beaches. Jellyfish are not only mauve. They are golden yellow or tan, depending on the habitat.
Jellyfish Compass
These types of jellyfish have chosen the coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea and one of the oceans - the Atlantic as their place of residence. They live off the coast of Turkey and the United Kingdom. These are quite large jellyfish, their diameter reaches thirty centimeters. They have twenty-four tentacles, which are arranged in groups of three in each. The body color is yellowish-white with a brown tint, and its shape resembles a saucer-bell, in which thirty-two lobes are determined, which are painted brown at the edges.
The upper surface of the bell has sixteen brown rays of a V-shape. The lower part of the bell is the location of the mouth opening, surrounded by four tentacles. These jellyfish are poisonous. Their poison has a potent property and often leads to the formation of wounds that are very painful and heal for a long time.