Where does the largest jellyfish live? Lion's mane jellyfish - the largest jellyfish in the world

Greek heroes turned to stone under the gaze of the mythical witch Medusa the Gorgon. Will the real and largest jellyfish in the world, the Arctic cyanea, make you freeze in shock? This floating nightmare has a bell two meters in diameter and extends its tentacles up to 30 meters! Find out the truth about giant jellyfish, their size and lifestyle, and your chances of encountering them in the wild.

First place: Arctic cyanide - the longest animal on the planet

The owner of the longest body prefers the cold waters of the White, Kara and Barents Seas, although he often descends to the latitudes of Boston and northern Portugal. In 1870, residents of one of the villages on the shores of Massachusetts Bay went out to collect fish left on the sand after a storm and discovered a gigantic jellyfish thrown up by the sea.

Animal measurements showed:

• 7.5 feet (2.3 m) - bell span;
• 120 feet (36.6 m) - length of tentacles;
• 121.4 feet (37 m) - total length from crown to tentacle tips.

Even the blue whale does not reach the cyanea record of 3.5 m!

What does a giant jellyfish look like and what does it eat?

The dome of the cyanide, shimmering with a greenish light, is colored burgundy closer to the edges and is divided into 16 lobes. Numerous tentacles of the animal stretch behind the dome in a sloppy pink trail. Thanks to them, the jellyfish received a second name - hairy.

For a person, an encounter with the Arctic giant is fraught with painful burns. The US National Geographic Society considers cyanea potentially fatal, although death from its poison has only been recorded once.

Second place: Nomura Bell - the yellow giant from the Yellow Sea

Kanihi Nomura, a zoologist and at the same time director of fisheries in the Japanese prefecture of Fukui, puzzled by the clogging of nets with jellyfish, found and described this species in 1921. The animal resembles a lump of tangled fibers from the central part of a pumpkin fruit, hanging from a two-meter bell. The second name of the giant is lion's mane.

Nomura's tentacles are small, but the mass of one specimen reaches 200 kg. In 2009, a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Japan while the crew was struggling with nomura that had filled the net. The efforts of fishermen to throw the lion's mane out of the nets end sadly: numerous tentacles always find a small strip of exposed skin, even on a person dressed in a marine robe.

How the bell burns Nomura and his brothers

Jellyfish are slow and clumsy, and it is difficult for them to hold on to their caught prey. So you have to act with paralyzing poison, grow stinging cells with a coiled harpoon thread inside. When a crustacean or fish touches a tiny protrusion near such a cell, the thread instantly shoots out, pierces the side and injects poison.

Jellyfish toxins have been little studied, but it has been established that one of their components is histamine, which is responsible for a severe allergic reaction. Other substances in the poison affect the nervous system, paralyzing small plankton and causing severe pain in marine mammals and humans.

Third place: Chrysaora – a gentle and fiery beauty

Chrysaora has chosen the eastern and western shelves of the North American continent. Its dome reaches a meter in diameter and is sand-colored with dark radial stripes. 24 thin stinging tentacles up to 5 m long hang from the edges of the dome. Around the mouth, located on the underside of the dome, 4 more tentacles grow, lush, like a feather boa. All together it resembles a lady's hat with ribbons.

The second name of the underwater beauty is sea nettle. Like the plant of the same name, chrysaora burns sharply and painfully, but not for long. Within an hour, the burning and itching stop, and the next day the redness goes away.

How chrysaors migrate

There is an opinion that jellyfish swim only with the flow. However, they easily move wherever they want, collecting water under the dome and throwing it out with strong pushes. This method of movement is called reactive.

Chrysaors make multi-day sea voyages in search of prey: comb jellyfish and plankton. Sometimes they gather in clusters of tens of thousands of individuals - zoologists call this phenomenon a “swarm” or “bloom”. Why chrysaors behave this way remains to be studied.

Fourth place: purple striped jellyfish

This rare creature lives off the coast of California. The diameter of its bell reaches 70 cm, the length of its thin marginal tentacles is 2 m. In its youth, the jellyfish is colorless, it is decorated with barely visible dark stripes and an edging along the edge of the dome. As they age, the stripes turn bright brown, and the jellyfish itself takes on a rich blueberry color.

The burns caused by the purple striped jellyfish are not fatal, but unpleasant, like a lash. In 2012, 130 beachgoers on Monterey Bay were injured after encountering a large group of young, and therefore difficult to see, animals in the water.

Why is the body of a jellyfish transparent?

The jellyfish does not have a single internal organ. Their flesh consists of two rows of cells, between them is a thick layer of gelatinous substance, which is 98% water. The jellyfish seems to be made of liquid glass.

Cells share all the work of the body among themselves. Some produce toxins, others digest prey, and others are responsible for sensitivity. There are cells whose responsibilities include the prompt restoration of body parts bitten off by turtles and other predators. But since there are only two layers of cells, the general outlines of objects can be seen through the jellyfish.

Fifth place: Black Sea Cornerot

For the Mediterranean and Black Seas, this is the largest representative of jellyfish. The diameter of the bell reaches 60 cm, weight – 10 kg. Kornerot does not have the long hunting tentacles characteristic of Chrysaora or Cyanea. There are small oral lobes that resemble young roots of well-fed seedlings.

Cornerotes are hardly noticeable, since on their transparent, colorless body there is only one colored area - the purple edging of the dome. Bathers discover the jellyfish when they touch the floating jelly. For most people, this animal is safe, and only severe allergy sufferers react to its soft touch with a scattering of hives.

Can a jellyfish feel?

Sight, hearing, taste - this is not about jellyfish. The nervous system is too primitive. However, sailors have long noticed that before a storm, cornermouths disappear, moving away from the shore.

It turned out that along the edges of the dome the animals carry tubes with lime crystals. In response to infrasounds that appear in the sea 10-15 hours before the storm, the crystals begin to move and touch microscopic sensitive tubercles.

The signal about this is received by nerve cells. Now sailors are armed with the “jellyfish ear” device, which notifies in advance of the approach of bad weather.

The world's largest jellyfish, the cyanea jellyfish, and its smaller sisters are some of the most beautiful inhabitants of the ocean. They have been dancing slowly and mysteriously in the salt water for hundreds of millions of years. During this time, they acquired delicate colors, burning poisons and the finest hearing. But zoologists are sure that not all the secrets of transparent beauties have been revealed.

Cyanea capillata (Linnaeus, 1758)

Arctic cyanea(lat. Cyanea capillata, Cyanea arctica ) - a species of scyphoid from the order of discomedusae ( Semaeostomeae). At the jellyfish stage they reach large sizes. Distributed in all northern seas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, found in surface layers of water near the coast. Not found in the Black and Azov Seas.

Body structure

The body of cyanea has a variety of colors, with a predominance of red and brown tones. In adult specimens, the upper part of the dome is yellowish and its edges are red. The oral lobes are crimson-red, the marginal tentacles are light, pink and purple. Juveniles are much brighter in color.

The cyanea bell has a hemispherical shape, its edges are transformed into 16 blades, separated from each other by cutouts. At the base of the cutouts there are rhopalia - the so-called marginal bodies, which contain the organs of vision (ocelli) and balance (statocysts). The long marginal tentacles are collected in 8 bundles and are attached to the inner concave side of the dome under the lobes between the rhopalia. In the center of the lower part of the dome is the oral opening, surrounded by large, folded oral lobes that hang down like curtains. The radial canals of the digestive system, extending from the stomach, enter the marginal and oral lobes of the bell, where they form branches.

Arctic cyanea is the largest jellyfish in the World Ocean. There are specimens with a dome diameter reaching 2 m. The tentacles of such large specimens can stretch up to 20 m. Typically, cyanea do not grow more than 50-60 cm.

Life cycle

Cyanea has a change of generations in its life cycle - sexual (medusoid), living in the water column, and asexual (polypoid), leading an attached bottom lifestyle.

Life cycle Cyanea capillata similar to the cycle Males release mature sperm into the water through their mouth, from where they penetrate into the brood chambers located in the females’ oral lobes, where fertilization of the eggs and their development occurs. Planula larvae leave the brood chambers and swim in the water column for several days. Having attached to the substrate, the larva transforms into a single polyp - a scyphistoma, which actively feeds, increases in size and can reproduce asexually, budding from itself daughter scyphists. In the spring, the process of transverse division of the scyphistoma begins - strobilation and the larvae of ethereal jellyfish are formed. They look like transparent stars with eight rays, they do not have marginal tentacles or mouth lobes. The ethers break away from the scyphistoma and float away, and by mid-summer they gradually turn into jellyfish.

Lifestyle

Most of the time, cyanea hover in the surface layer of water, periodically contracting the dome and flapping its edge blades. At the same time, the tentacles of the jellyfish are straightened and extended to their full length, forming a dense trapping network under the dome. Cyaneas are predators. Long, numerous tentacles are densely packed with stinging cells. When they are fired, a strong poison penetrates the victim's body, killing small animals and causing significant damage to larger ones. The prey of cyanides are various planktonic organisms, including other jellyfish.

Danger to humans

Arctic cyanea is actually not as dangerous as it is portrayed in popular culture. The sting of this jellyfish is simply incapable of causing the death of a person. Although the rash can be painful for sensitive people, and the toxins in the venom can cause an allergic reaction.

Notes

Literature

• Illustrated atlas of invertebrates of the White Sea. Moscow: Partnership of Scientific Publications KMK. 2006.
• Mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Lion's Mane" (vol. 3)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Cyanea” is in other dictionaries:

Noun, number of synonyms: 4 bacteria (83) algae (89) jellyfish (25) ... Synonym dictionary

- (Cyanea capillata) a large sea jellyfish from the scyphoid class (See Scyphoid). The edges of the umbrella have eight double blades, the tentacles are collected in 8 bunches. The body color is usually very bright, the umbrella is yellowish-red, the mouth lobes are crimson... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Cyanea) a genus of the family Cianeidae, belonging to the suborder Discomedusae of the order Scyphomedusae (see) or acalephus type of coelenterates. The gelatinous body of this jellyfish has the shape of a cap, and its characteristic feature is its extremely wide,... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

cyanea- her cyan, and... Russian spelling dictionary

It is no secret that each group of vertebrate animals (phylum, class, family, genus) has its own record holders for certain achievements. Invertebrates are not far behind them, because among them there are also those who can be envied! One of these creatures is the giant cyanea jellyfish.

Giant in the sea

The hairy cyanea is the largest jellyfish in the whole world. This is a real giant of the seas and oceans. Its full name is Cuanea arctica, which translated from Latin sounds like “jellyfish.” This beautifully glowing pink-violet creature can be found in the high latitudes of the northern jellyfish, distributed in all northern seas flowing into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. You can see it directly nearby shores, in the upper layers of water.Researchers who studied the hairy cyanea initially looked for it in the Azov and Black Seas, but never found it.

Cyanea jellyfish. Impressive size

According to the latest oceanographic studies cited by members of the expedition of the so-called Cousteau team, the diameter of the gelatinous “body” (or dome) of cyanea can reach 2.5 m. But that’s what it’s all about! The pride of the hairy arctic jellyfish is its tentacles. The length of these processes ranges from 26 to 42 m! Scientists have come to the conclusion that the size of these jellyfish depends entirely on their living conditions. According to statistical data, it is the individuals that inhabit the coldest ocean waters that are enormous in size.

External structure

The hairy cyanea jellyfish has a fairly varied coloration of its body. Brown, purple and red tones predominate here. When a jellyfish becomes an adult, its dome (“body”) on top begins to clearly turn yellow, and its edges begin to turn red. The tentacles located at the edges of the dome are purple-pink, and the mouth lobes are red-crimson. It is because of the long tentacles that the cyanea was nicknamed the hairy (or hairy) jellyfish. The dome itself, or bell, of the Arctic cyanide has a hemispherical structure. Its edges smoothly transform into 16 blades, which, in turn, are separated from each other by specific cutouts.

Lifestyle

These creatures spend the lion's share of their numerous time in so-called free swimming - they soar on the surfaces of sea waters, periodically contracting their gelatinous dome and flapping their outer blades. The hairy cyanide is a predator, and a very active one at that. It feeds on plankton floating in the surface layers of water, crustaceans and small fish. In especially “hungry years”, when there is literally nothing to eat, cyanea can starve for a long time. But in some cases, these creatures become cannibals, devouring their own relatives.

Members of Cousteau's team describe in their research the method of hunting that the jellyfish uses. The hairy cyanide rises to the surface of the water, spreading its long tentacles in different directions. She waits for her victim. Researchers have noticed that in this state, cyanea very much resembles. As soon as the victim swims closer to such “algae” and touches it, the jellyfish immediately wraps it around the prey, releasing it with the help of so-called poison that can paralyze. As soon as the prey stops showing signs of life, the jellyfish eats it. The venom of this gelatinous giant is quite strong and is produced along the entire length of the tentacles.

Reproduction

This creature reproduces in a very unusual way. The male releases his sperm through the oral cavity into the female's mouth. Actually, that's all. It is in the mouth of the female jellyfish that the formation of embryos occurs. When the “babies” grow up, they will emerge as larvae. These larvae, in turn, will attach to the substrate, turning into a single polyp. After a few months, the grown polyp will begin to multiply, after which the larvae of future jellyfish will appear.

Until now, the largest caught Arctic cyanide, officially registered in documents, is a creature thrown up in 1870 on the coast of the Gulf of America. The diameter of the dome of this giant was 2.3 m, and the length of the tentacles was 36.5 m. Currently, scientists know for certain It is known that there are specimens with a gelatinous body diameter of up to 2.5 m and a tentacle length of 42 m. Such jellyfish were recorded using a scientific underwater bathyscaphe as part of oceanological expeditions, but no one has yet managed to catch at least one such individual.

The cyanea jellyfish is known among divers for its painful sting. Officially, the world's largest jellyfish is considered dangerous to humans. But in fact, only one death was recorded. As a rule, such a burn leaves local redness on the person’s skin, which goes away over some time. Sometimes rashes appear on the body, accompanied by painful sensations. And all because the giant’s venom contains toxins that can cause an allergic reaction. However, if you are stung by a giant cyanea jellyfish, it is recommended that you see a doctor.

Arctic cyanea(lat. Cyanea capillata) is the largest jellyfish in the world, which gained wide popularity thanks to Arthur Conan Doyle and his story “The Lion's Mane,” which talked about the painful and long death of one of the heroes due to an encounter with Arctic cyanide.
In fact, rumors about its fatal danger to humans are overly exaggerated. Arctic cyanide is not capable of causing death; moreover, it cannot cause serious harm to human health. The most dire consequences of touching a jellyfish are rashes and allergic reactions. All this can be easily treated with simple compresses with vinegar.
However, the Arctic cyanide is a very interesting marine animal. It lives in extremely harsh climatic conditions. Cyanea is found in the Arctic Ocean and the northern regions of the Pacific Ocean. Arctic cyanea rarely swims below forty-second degrees north latitude and is completely absent from the waters of the southern hemisphere.


Arctic cyanide can reach truly enormous sizes. This is the largest species of all jellyfish and the largest animal in the world's oceans. In 1870, one jellyfish was found off the coast of Massachusetts, the diameter of which reached up to two meters, and the length of the tentacles was thirty-six meters. It is generally accepted that the bell of an Arctic jellyfish can reach up to two and a half meters in diameter, and the length of the tentacles can reach up to forty-five meters. This far exceeds the size of the blue whale, which is the largest animal on the planet.
The further north the Arctic cyanea lives, the more impressive its size. The largest sizes are those of jellyfish that live in the extremely cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. Approaching fairly warm waters, the Arctic cyanea decreases in size: the smallest Arctic cyanea is found from forty to forty-two degrees north latitude.
The length of the tentacles of the Arctic jellyfish varies depending on the location and temperature of its habitat, and the color directly depends on the size. The largest individuals have rich crimson-red tones, while smaller ones have orange, pink or light brown hues.
Arctic cyanide is a bell with blades along the edges in the form of a hemisphere. Long tentacles are attached to the inner part of the blades, which are collected in eight bundles. Each bundle contains from sixty to one hundred and thirty tentacles. In the center of the bell there is a mouth opening, around which long mouth lobes are attached. With their help, the jellyfish moves the caught prey towards the mouth, which connects to the stomach.
Like many jellyfish, the arctic cyanide is a voracious predator. It feeds on zooplankton, small fish and ctenophores, as well as its cousins, the long-eared aurelia. In turn, Arctic cyanide is a tasty prey for large fish, seabirds and turtles.

October 24, 2013

Arctic giant jellyfish

The largest jellyfish in the world, according to the latest data, is the Arctic giant. She lives in the Atlantic. One of these jellyfish was washed ashore in Massachusetts. The diameter of its bell was 2.3 m, and its tentacles were 36 m. During its life, a large jellyfish eats more than 15 thousand fish.

The most poisonous jellyfish in the world is the Australian sea wasp. When touching the tentacles, people die within 1-2 minutes in the absence of immediate medical assistance. Its dome is only 12 centimeters in diameter. But the length of the tentacles is about 8 meters. According to the mechanism of action, jellyfish venom is similar to cobra venom and acts on the heart muscle. Since 1880, about 70 people have become its victims on the shores of Australia. Oddly enough, one of the most effective means of protection is women's tights. Despite its tiny size, the killer jellyfish has a deadly sting. In 2002, she managed to cause Irukandji syndrome in Australia, which killed 2 tourists. It all started with a small, mosquito-sized bite. Those bitten suffered from lower back pain and cramps for an hour. In addition, nausea, vomiting, increased sweating and cough were noted. The consequences of what is happening are very sad. There are known cases of a bite leading to paralysis or death as a result of cerebral hemorrhage or cardiac arrest.

Invasion of giant jellyfish

Recently, off the coast of the town of Echizen, located in Fukui Prefecture, there has been an unprecedented invasion of giant jellyfish. Thousands of special ones, the size of which is more than a meter, and the weight exceeds 100 kilograms. The length of some individuals reached 5 meters. However, their poisonous tentacles were not fatal to people. The mass migration of giant jellyfish into the Sea of ​​Japan has been associated with rising water temperatures. Fishermen constantly complained about a sharp decrease in income, since in order to feed such a large number of giant jellyfish, the latter killed or stunned a large number of fish and shrimp, not disdaining the fishermen’s nets. This type of jellyfish was first discovered in the East China Sea. Since 1920, giant jellyfish of this species have been migrating between Japan and the Korean Peninsula due to rising temperatures.

But still, the largest jellyfish remains the cyanea, or, as it is otherwise called, the blue-haired jellyfish. In science, there are two subspecies of it. Blue and Japanese cyanea. But Japanese ones are significantly smaller in size than blue cyanides.

Giant jellyfish live in moderate to cold waters. Found in small numbers off the coast of Australia. And yet the most numerous populations are observed in the northern seas of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic. Giant jellyfish can also be found in the open seas of the Arctic. It is in the northern latitudes that truly gigantic jellyfish are found. In warm seas, as a rule, cyanea either does not survive or is no more than 0.5 m in diameter.

Body of a giant jellyfish

The body of a giant jellyfish can have a variety of colors. Mainly red and brown tones predominate. In adults, the upper part of the dome is yellow and the edges red. The tentacles can be light to purple in color. Sweat cavities are red. Younger specimens have much brighter colors. A large number of sticky tentacles are observed. They are formed into 8 groups. Any group, in turn, has 60-150 tentacles within itself. They are all located in a row. The dome of the jellyfish is also divided into 8 parts. All this makes it similar to an eight-pointed star. Giant jellyfish are found in both female and male genders. During the fertilization period in males, sperm are released through the oral cavity directly into the water. From there they enter the females' mouths and brood chambers. In them, the eggs are fertilized and develop. Then the larvae leave these chambers and swim in the water. Gradually feeding and increasing in size, it can also reproduce asexually by budding. In spring, the process of transverse division and formation of jellyfish larvae occurs. They are transparent eight-pointed stars that do not have tentacles or mouth lobes. In mid-summer they turn into large jellyfish. They spend a lot of time in the surface layer of water. Cyaneas are predators by nature. The tentacles shoot a powerful poison into the body of a potential victim. Prey can be both planktonic organisms and small fish and jellyfish.

Tentacle Network

The giant jellyfish, although poisonous to humans, does not have the power to kill him. There is only one case of death from a giant jellyfish recorded in the world. In most cases, it causes allergic reactions. In other cases, a rash may appear on the person's body. Burns may appear in the place where the tentacles touched the human body. Or you may only experience redness of the skin. But all this goes away over time. There is a pattern in the dependence of size on color. The smaller it is, the lighter the color. Small jellyfish are orange and brown in color. Giant jellyfish hunt in groups of about 10 individuals. They intertwine their tentacles to form a huge network. This is where marine fish and some invertebrates end up. Giant jellyfish are at risk from turtles and seabirds. Other jellyfish and large fish may also pose threats. Some may consider the giant jellyfish dangerous to human life and health. But that's not true. The burns from its tentacles can be painful for people with hypersensitivity.

The pain from them can last about 7-8 hours. In fact, the sting of a giant jellyfish is practically incapable of causing mortal harm to a person. However, toxic substances can cause an allergic reaction in humans.