Cnidaria, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 15, 2011

Why Jellyfish Flourish: They're Surprisingly Effective Predators

As pulsing blobs, jellyfish seem out of place among the ranks of sleek, efficient predators of the sea. However, new research indicates that they rival plankton-eating fish, such as sardines and anchovies, when it comes to plucking prey out of the water and using the energy from it. This may...

May 16, 2012

Jellyfish Hunt Hurts Pacific Leatherback Turtles

When it comes to leatherback turtles, the world's largest species of sea turtle, there's a conundrum: The species itself is critically endangered, but at least one leatherback population is stable — on the rise, even — while others plummet. Now, researchers may have discovered why some of these turtles are...

Dec 31, 2012

Gelatinous Menace? Jellyfish on Boom-Bust Cycle Worldwide

Though some reports suggest jellyfish are taking over the world’s oceans, long-term records of these gelatinous animals fail to show a global increase in jellyfish blooms likely caused by pollution, warming, coastal development and other human influences. While the analysis of a team of researchers who have pulled together records...

Apr 3, 2014

Actress Anne Curtis Stung By Box Jellyfish

Actress Anne Curtis was stung by a deadly box jellyfish while shooting a TV show in the Philippines Wednesday night (April 2). Curtis was being treated at St. Luke's Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City, where doctors were keeping an eye on her rash and heartbeat, the actress tweeted, according...

May 13, 2014

Deadly Jellyfish Blooms Predictable, New Study Finds

The key to predicting the presence of tiny, venomous and nearly invisible jellyfish may be blowing in the wind, new research finds. The discovery, linking the appearance of teeny-tiny jellies off the coast of Australia with wind patterns, could lead to a way to prevent stings, researchers report today (May...

May 13, 2014

The Beautiful New Jellyfish Identified in the Gulf of Venice

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. A bloom of new jellyfish started appearing in the Gulf of Venice last autumn. They were first detected by a fisherman from Chioggia in north-east Italy when hundreds of...

May 29, 2014

Animal sex: How jellyfish do it

With their gelatinous bodies, strandlike tentacles and other strange features, jellyfish appear to be very different from other types of animals. But are their mating behaviors also bizarre? There are almost 4,000 species of jellyfish, according to Cheryl Lewis Ames, a jellyfish researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park....

Jul 17, 2014

Secret Lives of Flower Hat Jellyfish Revealed

For decades, flower hat jellyfish managed to keep their early lives a secret. In adulthood, the jellyfish are striking, with a nest of fluorescent tentacles that look like party streamers, but pack a nasty sting. In infancy, well, scientists didn't know. Aquarists tried, unsuccessfully, to raise the animals in tanks...

Aug 5, 2014

Lowly Jellyfish Uses High-Tech Strategy to Find Food

The barrel jellyfish, isn't just the largest jelly found in the waters around the United Kingdom, it's also one of the animal kingdom's most strategic searchers, according to a new study. To locate the best possible meal in the vast waters of its marine habitat, the barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus)...

Oct 5, 2014

Do Not Fear the Sailor 'Jellyfish' Invasion

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Billions of small, jellyfish-like creatures known as “by-the-wind sailors” have washed ashore all along the west coast of North America this summer, from southern California to British Columbia. Images...

Nov 14, 2014

Live Jellyfish Cam Offers Stunning Views of Sea Nettles

Bored with all the vertebrates in your wildlife-cam media diet? The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California is now streaming mesmerizing live footage of its jellyfish. Specifically, the aquarium is showing off Pacific sea nettles, or Chrysaora fuscescens, a species that drifts through the eastern Pacific from Mexico to Canada. You...

May 26, 2015

Billions of Blue Jellyfish Setting Sail for Beaches

Expect another bountiful crop of blue jellies this year along West Coast beaches. Billions of by-the-wind sailors, also called Velella velella, could wash ashore in coming months because of favorable water temperatures and onshore winds, scientists say. People have already spotted thousands of the baseball-size creatures at beaches from Washington...

Jun 18, 2015

In Photos: Moon Jellyfish Can Rearrange Limbs

Delicate saucer-shaped blobs that pulsate their way through the seas, moon jellyfish have a clever trick up their sleeves, as scientists have found the jellies can self-repair after losing a limb or two. But rather than growing back the injured or amputated arm, moon jellyfish just rearrange their other limbs...

Jun 18, 2015

Mix-n-Match Arms: Jellyfish Rearrange Limbs After Injury

Common moon jellies have an uncommon fix for injuries: When they lose limbs, they don't regrow them. Instead, they rearrange their entire bodies to stay symmetrical despite the loss. This symmetrization is a never-before-seen method of self-repair, and one that probably helps jellies stay alive in the wild. Jellyfish are...

Sep 17, 2015

Tiny 'Jellyfish' Team Up for Multi-Jetpack Swimming

A jellyfishlike creature that swims using an array of jetpacks could transform the way engineers design underwater exploration vehicles, suggests a recent study. Meet Nanomia bijuga, a relative of jellies, anemones and corals. This siphonophore navigates the ocean in colonies measuring about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long. Most of that...