Interesting Facts about Jellyfish

We are all aware that Jellyfish they are very common throughout the world. Here is a list of some interesting facts about Jellyfish:

Jellyfish is Not A Fish:

Though they refer to as jellyfish; technically they are not a fish as they do not have any fish-like features such as gills. They breathe through their skin.

Jellyfish is carnivorous. They feed on crustaceans, fish eggs, plankton, small fish and even other jellyfish. Here is more on what a jellyfish eat.

They are the oldest multi-organ animal. They are living on earth for more than 500 million years. The size of a jellyfish can vary from 1 mm to a few meters in diameter.

They are common in every ocean. Very few of them also live in freshwater.

Jellyfish is famous for their toxicity. Upon touching a jellyfish nematocyst cells pierce the skin of the victim and release toxin inside the body.

There toxin levels vary species to species. The venom from a sea wasp (a species of box jellyfish) can kill a man within minutes.

They can reproduce both sexually and asexually. A single jellyfish can release more than 45000 eggs per day. The larva of a jellyfish is called planula larva.

Though it seems odd, more people are killed by jellyfish than sharks throughout the year.

Jellyfish donot have any skeleton i.e. no skeleton is present externally or internally. Depending upon species jellyfish contain 95-98% water in the body composition. They do not possess any circulatory, digestive, respiratory systems.

Jellyfish do not have any locomotory organ; they move through the water by contracting and expanding their umbrella shaped bodies.

The lifespan of a jellyfish can vary from a few hours to a few months.

Some of them possess light emitting organs (bioluminescent organ) and can glow in the dark.

There are two phases of a jellyfish’s life viz. polyp and medusa. It is the medusa phase (umbrella shaped) that we generally refer to as jellyfish.

Jellyfish is harvested for its collagen. This is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Some jellyfish such as blubber jellyfish are edible too. In some Asian countries like Japan and Korea jellyfish are taken as food.

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