Interesting Jellyfish Facts: Do You Know What Does A Jellyfish Eat?

Today we will discuss jellyfish food habitat. What do jellyfish eat? And how do they capture and digest their food?

So if you ever wondered about their feeding habits you will find this article informative.

What Do Jellyfish Eat?

Jellyfish eat a variety of things. There are more than 200 species of jellyfish. Some are bigger and some are small. The type of things they eat also varies with their sizes. 

Small jellyfish eats things like:

• Planktons
• Small plants
• Small fish
• Fish eggs etc

Bigger sized jellyfish eats things like:

• Shrimps
• Crabs
• Plants
• Lobsters
• Fish
• Smaller jellyfish etc

How Do Jellyfish Eat Their Food?

Now, let’s look at how a jellyfish eat their food. We can divide the whole process into 4 parts.

• How the jellyfish catches food?
• How the food enters into the mouth of a jellyfish
• How the food gets digested?
• How they through out the feces

How The Jellyfish Catches Food:

Jellyfish do not search out food actively. They passively float around and feed on things that float by it. 

Jellyfish have long tentacles and they use them to capture the food. The length of those tentacles can reach up to 3 meters (for some species). 

When their prey touches any of these tentacles they are poisoned and get paralyzed. Some jellyfish also have a stinging thread which also helps in capturing the prey.

How The food Enters Into The Mouth:

Now, with help of the oral arms, they capture the dead or paralyzed prey into their mouth.

The mouth of a jellyfish is basically an opening that does basic functions like ingesting foods and expelling water. Because of this, the mouth of a jellyfish is also an integral part of their movement. 

The mouth of the jellyfish leads to the stomach.

The oral arms are far shorter than the tentacles and are actually quite useful in grabbing the food particles and pushing them inside the mouth.

Digestive System of A Jellyfish:

Once the food particles enter into the mouth they fall into the stomach of the jellyfish. The digestive system of a jellyfish is a very simple system. It doesn’t have any major organs such as the liver, pancreas, or intestine.

All the digestive work of a jellyfish is done by a single gastrovascular cavity named “coelenteron”. Here all the digestive enzymes act on the foods.

Taking Out The Feces:

Once the food has been digested properly, the inside cells of the stomach ingest the food and indigestible parts are thrown out through the mouth.

Jellyfish is a very interesting animal. Some of the facts about jellyfish are really interesting to know.