#scyphozoan

[jellyfishobsessor]

Difference in Cnidaria Classes

There are 4 different types of phylum cnidaria classes. These classes being Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Cubozoa, and Staurozoa. Let's start!

Note: I would also like to add that siphonophores are NOT jellyfish. Although they may share a class in phylum cnidaria, they have many differences. However, I will address that in another post.

Hydrozoa

Hydrozoans are small jellyfish who only spend part of their lifetime as jellyfish. Their lifespan can range from up to a few minutes, to a few months. An exception of this fact is the immortal jellyfish. Some hydrozoans are actually colonial as well.

Some examples of this class are freshwater jellies, as well as siphonophores.

Scyphozoa

Scyphozoans are the most abundant kind of jellyfish. These jellies are typically bigger than most. Even as a polyp, they are far more developed than the rest. This is actually what differentiates Scyphozoans from Hydrozoans, as they're often mixed up.

Hydrozoans spend part of their lifetime as polyps, where the medusa is small and sometimes even absent. As I stated before, Scyphozoans are much more developed at an earlier stage than most jellies.

Cubozoa

Cubozoans are one of the easiest to identify from looks. As is suggests in the name, it's box shaped. When looking at it from above, or even from the side, they have a very cube like structure; Along with evenly spaces out tentacles in each corner.

What makes these jellies unique is the fact that they actually have developed eyes! But although having developed eyes, their sight isn't really their strong suit. However, their sight is well enough to spot predators earlier than the regular jellyfish can.

Staurozoa

Staurozoa are VERY different than the average jellyfish. They are not free floating, nor do they look like one either. These jellies are actually stalked, and attach themselves to surfaces.

They possess 8 oral arms, in which they use to catch food. Because of their looks, they are often mistaken for sea anemones.

What also makes them unique is the fact they have no life cycle changes. They remain in one spot for their entire life. From their polyp stage, to their medusa stage, they will stay attached to one surface until they reach the end of their life span; Or until they are eaten.

[dailycharacteroption]

Races Among the Stars 7: Scyphozoan

When you think of sea life that might evolve one day into sapient organisms, you might think some manner of fish, or perhaps an octopus. You probably, however, don’t think of cniderians, which covers sea anemones, corals, and yes, sea jellies.

And yet, that’s exactly what happened on the world of Primera, where life with internal skeletons never evolved, making the most complex life forms on that world various forms of arthropod, aquatic and terrestrial alike. However, it was not the insects or the crustaceans that rose to sapience, but a species of amphibious jellyfish, their bells and tentacles sporting complex collagens to support their weight and keep their shape out of the water. Thus arose the scyphozoans, a people that only came to galactic prominence around 100 years ago in setting when they launched their first organic ships into space, and have a history of nomadic wandering and expansionist war, which they seek to put behind them.

Indeed, the scyphozoans started out as hunters and pastoral herders, though the prey they hunted were fish and the beasts they herded were domesticated plankton. In search of more resources they came onto land, where they fell into conflict with their sapient neighbors, the fungal mycelars. The mycelars interpreted the droves of scyphozoans entering their territory as an invasion, and soon the two societies were embroiled in conflict that lasted generations.

However, while this war was tragic, it led to interesting social changes, the scyphozoans united under one banner against their common foe being one. That unification led to mutualism that saw the jelly-folk questioning the very expansionist ways that had led to the conflict in the first place, and soon both sides entered talks for peace.

With peace came advances in technology, particularly biotech, and while minerals are still occasionally used, almost everything made on Primera is biotech, from construction to medical apparatus to furniture to the very vehicles and starships that connect far-flung communities and the planet to the rest of the galaxy.

 While it is accurate to describe a scyphozoan as an ambulatory jellyfish, that is a grotesque oversimplification. Like a jellyfish, they are composed of a bell, inner mantle, and tentacles. The skin of the bell if reinforced with collagen, making it able to support itself and resist cuts and tears as well as retaining moisture, which aids in respiration through the skin. However, the bell does remain flexible enough to be contracted for locomotion underwater, as well as contracted with air in order to breathe and speak by flexibly manipulating the bell itself and their inner mantle and tentacles to make various complex sounds, though many note that their voices tend to have a crackling quality on land as air bubbles out. Additionally, the bell has bioluminescent points, which while not strong enough to illuminate their surroundings, but can convey emotional states and even rank, often giving them a rosy inner glow.

Meanwhile, their inner mantle is where their organs reside, including a hybrid complete/incomplete digestive system, with food travelling in an entrance, looping the digestive tract, then exiting the same orifice. Meanwhile, several pores in the mantle pull in hydration to sustain their bodies, and while they can remain on land indefinitely, entering water is important to cycle in new water and relieve waste products that might build up.

Finally, their tentacles. Unlike the basically limp tendrils of Earth’s sea jellies, scyphozoans have mobile and strong tentacles that come in three types: locomotion, sensory, and grasping. The four locomotion tentacles are longest, helping them stand at the height of a human, and have toes and cartilage “bones” inside them to help support their weight. Scyphozoans on land move with surprising grace on these tentacles, seeming to glide forward smoothly with the tentacles moving under them. The second type of tentacle, being sensory, are the most numerous, and consist of the many sensory organs that give them their awareness of the world around them, such as sight, scent, hearing, and so on. Finally, the grasping tentacles are strong and prehensile, able to grasp objects with ease. What’s more, they retain the stinging nematocysts one associates with jellyfish, though in their case the payload is a corrosive acid rather than a toxin.

 Despite their efforts to move on from their expansionist past, scyphozoans have a deep love of their history and the simple life of herding and wandering. That being said, there are subcultures devoted to martial arts and the like, rather than just the hunting-inspired sports of their past.

Traditionally, the jelly-folk are organized into various tribes, which adopt young members of the species that have wandered out of the sea for the first time and teach them their ways, becoming essentially their family by bond rather than birth, which is unsurprising given how scyphozoan reproduction mirrors Earth jellies, what with deposited polyps on the ocean floor which live out an anemone-like life until they mature and metamorphose into a proper jelly. As such, bonds of blood aren’t really a thing in scyphozoan culture. However, there still exists a tendency to judge an adolescent by the brightness and color patterns, leading to a meritocracy where auspicious patterns are given more resources to better themselves, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In terms of art, scyphozoans delight in music with deep bass tones, particularly percussion, which they can literally feel rather than merely hear as their whole bodies ripple. They also favor poetry that is grow, rather than etched or engraved, into the surface of cultivated fungus, which can be read with a touch.

Overally, the scyphozoans are a curious people that constantly grow and change despite also putting value on what was good about the past. Moreover, they are eager to share their biotech, which rivals that of barathu and raxilites, with others and gain similar boons from their neighbors.

 Despite their soft bodies and outwardly simplistic anatomy, scyphozoans are actually surprisingly hearty and intelligent, though their alien physiology makes it difficult to relate to many other species.

They can activate the nematocysts on a grasping tentacle to inject acid into foes they strike, guaranteeing they are always armed, but also meaning they can’t use that grasper for anything else lest they risk damaging their possessions.

Despite their form, they are fully amphibious, able to survive in both environments.

Their bodies also are sensitive to vibrations, helping them pick up on nearby creatures.

They are also surprisingly mobile on both land and water, their mobility limbs and bell able to propel them easily.

Having a soft, translucent body has it’s advantages as well, as they can dim their illumination and use that translucence to better hide their presence.

 With their generally high intelligence, biohacker and mechanic (potentially with biomechanical drone/exocortex/armor/weapon/vehicle/what have you) are natural choices. However, their decent con also makes them good for tanky roles, their soft bodies taking impacts that would shatter bone. As such, evolutionists, nanocytes, and vanguards, as well as melee builds for solarian and soldier are nice choices. Their translucency also makes them good operatives that rely on stealth to get the job done. While they don’t get special advantages, mystic also plays into their sense of tradition and community, while precog fits their forward-thinking mindset. The only real weakness they have is charisma-based classes like envoy and witchwarper, but they can still make it work.

 That does it for today, but tomorrow we’ll be looking at something of a Paizo staple!

[the-jellydex]

Reminder to all my jellyfriends that hydrozoan and cubozoan jellyfish are true jellyfish too :)

The distinction between Scyphozoa, Hydrozoa, and Cubozoa- while morphological and pronounced- are not different enough for them to be disqualified from the term. In any case, they mainly fill the same ecological niche (especially Scyphozoa and Hydrozoa) and have vaguely the same body structure, so you can’t really call the other two “fake jellyfish”

[gofishygo]

number 5 in marine biology ask 💯💪

what is your most controversial marine bio take ?

ok this is going to piss off all of fishblr but from an industrial fishkeeping standpoint i FUCKING HATE MOON JELLYFISH and i HOPE THEY ALL DIE (i dont but keep reading please) .

like- okok australia lore : we have EXTREMELY strict regulations on importing and exporting animals (ver and inver) and plants . it is so so so SO hard to get anything across if you aren't using it exclusively for research or if you are not in a career relevant to it. AND- AND THE THING IS , MOON JELLIES ARE THE ONLY JELLYFISH THAT ARE OK TO KEEP AS PETS IN AUSTRALIA ??

i go to an aquarium exopecting variety and get a ratio of 1000 MOONS to 1 EVERYTHING FUCKING ELSE. THEYRE EVERYWHERE . I GENUINELY CNNOT ESCAPE THEM . I GO TO AUSTRALIAN AQUARIUNM ?????? OH BAM ONE MILLION MOON JELLYFISH . I GO TO MALAYSIA AQUARIUM ?????? 80% AURITAS. I GO TO GERMANY AQUARIUM ??? ITS THEIR WHOLE PERSONALITY.HOW ABOUT I SHOVE SOME OF THEM UP MY FUCKING ASSHOLE SO THEY CAN INVADE IT TOO HUH ???????????????

HOW ARE THEY EVERYWHERE WHEN THEIR TENTACLES AND BELL 'HAIRS' ARE TOO FUCKING SHORT TO TOUCH ANYTHING ??????? THEY ARE NOT GOBBLING NUN 💀💀💀

likr fucking- fucking AUSTRALIN spotteds and AUSTRLIAN lagoons arent permitted for imp/expting and theyre NATIVE TO OUR AREA . THERE IS LITTLE CHANCE OF FUCKING BLOOMS ANYWAYS SINCE UNLIKE MOONS THEY DONT PISS THEIR FUCKING KIDS EVERYWHERE LIKE WHAT MAKES MOON JELLIES SO SPECIAL HUH ????????????????????????????? HUH ???????????????????? THEY THINK THEYRE ON TOP ????????????????????? NO THEY ARENT YOURE BUILT LIKE A FUCKING DINNER PLATE AND CANT HUNT FOR SHIT . YOUR GONADS ARE FUCKING UGLY COMPARED TO EVEYRONE ELSE BITCH YOU AINT FOOLING NOONE. NO LIVING SPECIMEN. SO MANY MORE INTERESTING STUDIES HAVE COME OUT FROM OTHER SPECIES MOONS CONTRIBUTE TO NOTHING . LITERALLY NOTHING INTERESTING LIKE BITCH UR SO BLAND . THE ONLY THING U GOOD FOR IS BEING TURTLE FOOD STUPID FUCKING GELATIN DISC

[donuts4evry1]

Today, I was doing some research on jellyfish (as one does) and incidentally came across a couple of studies that focused on jellyfish polyps.

While it is cool... it made me realize something.

I think it’s a little misleading to think of polyps as a sort of “fetus” state for jellyfish (even though it does precede the ephyra, or baby stage)

Polyps (at least of the scyphozoan variety) could almost be regarded as individual animals in their own right. They function similarly to carnivorous corals, and have a similar diet to their medusa counterparts. Heck, they even reproduce on their own (asexually, at least) through a variety of means.

Most scyphozoan polyps even leave behind some parts of themselves after a strobilation event, and can theoretically keep producing ephyra indefinitely year-round (I think a study mentioned there was one from 1932 that was still producing ephyra? Might have to fact-check that, though)

anyways. this new line of thought has me. thinking a lot. Jellyfish are odd creatures and I think we are projecting our own chronological, fixed life cycles on them a little too hard

[gleichschenklig]

[the-chomsky-hash]

[donuts4evry1]

LMAO I'd argue that they do know sir Chironex has true eyes but instead ostricize it for doing so

a post for all of my fellow jelly enthusiasts

[surgeryie]

⠀ ི Jellyfish ／ Ocean（ ✙ ） NPTs．

Hydrozoa ﹐ Scyphozoa ﹐ Aquamarine ﹐ Jellita ﹐ Jellina ﹐ Marine ◞ Marina ﹐ Mermi ﹐ Moonlight ﹐ Medusozoa ◞ Medusae ﹐ Polyp ﹐ Biolumine ﹐ Cnidaria ﹐ Méduse ﹐ Cordelia ﹐ Neptune ﹐ Baia

Sea ) Seas ﹐ Ocea ) Ocean ﹐ Mar ) Marine ﹐ Jelly ) Jellies ﹐ Hy ) Hydra ﹐ Lu ) Lumi ﹐ Cor ) Cors ﹐ Nom ) Noms ﹐ Scy ) Scyr

The Scyphozoan ◞ Hydrozoan ◞ Medusozoan ﹐ The Sea Dweller ﹐ The Coral Reef ﹐ Their Sweet Sting ﹐ The Heart of the Sea ﹐ The Sea Angel

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Cnidaria

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Cnidaria is a phylum of aquatic animals which includes the Anthozoans (sea anemones, corals, sea pens), the Scyphozoans ( true jellies), the Cubozoans (box jellies), the Hydrozoans (a diverse group ranging from Hydras to the colonial Portuguese Man O’ War), the Staurozoans (eight-tentacled cnidarians that cling to seaweeds and rocks), and the parasitic Myxozoans and Polypodiozoans.

Cnidarians are identified by a decentralized nervous system distributed throughout a gelatinous body, and specialized explosive stinging cells, called cnidocytes, on ejectable flagella (“tentacles”) which are used to envenomate prey ranging from plankton to animals several times larger than themselves. Their bodies consist of a jelly-like substance called mesoglea sandwiched between two thin cell layers. Cnidarians are some of the only animals that can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

Many species of Cnidarian are actually groups of polyps, called zooids, clustered together to form one collonial organism. Corals, the Man O’ War, and Siphonophores are examples of this.

Propaganda below the cut:

Corals support 25% of all ocean life

Reefs are formed when coral polyps group together and produce a skeleton of calcium carbonate at their bases. They do this to form a platform that allows them to better stick together.

In a relationship that dates back to the Triassic, the symbiotic algae that live within corals gives them their colors, as well as creates nutrients for both organisms

Corals are facing a mass extinction due to climate change

While anemones are mainly sessile, usually staying in one place for weeks to months at a time, they can creep along on their bases at a speed too slow to be seen with the naked eye. However, some species can move or “swim” quickly in a pinch. Gonactinia can crawl like an inchworm, Paranthus rapiformis can curl into a ball and roll around, and Stomphia coccinea can swim by flexing its column. They just look really silly doing so.

Anemones are predators, stinging prey and pulling it into their mouth with their tentacles. They can eat animals as large as crabs, mollusks, and even small fish. However, some fish and invertebrates have a symbiotic relationship with anemones. Immune to the anemone’s venom, these animals utilize it as shelter while keeping it clean and providing it with nutrients from their feces. Some hermit crabs even carry anemones on their shells, providing the anemone with quick transport to new areas in return for protection.

Box Jellies have simple eyes, are capable of pursuing and reacting to prey behavior, and some species are some of the most deadly animals in the world.

The Lion’s Mane Jelly (Cyanea capillata) is one of the largest jellyfish, with the largest recorded specimen having a bell width of 210 cm (7 ft) and tentacles around 36.6 m (120 ft) long.

The Lion’s Mane Jelly is also the favorite food of Leatherback Sea Turtles.

A rise in jellyfish population can signify ecosystem collapse

The Giant Siphonophore (Praya dubia) is a collonial Hydrozoan that can get up to 50 m (160 ft) long, rivaling the Blue Whale in length.

Some Cnidarians can “hear” via vibrations, and some can even produce sounds to communicate

Many Cnidarians are bioluminescent

[ilikeit-art]

Rhizostomae or Rhizostomeae is an order of jellyfish. Species of this order have neither tentacles nor other structures at the bell's edges. Instead, they have eight highly branched oral arms, along which there are suctorial minimouth orifices. (This is in contrast to other scyphozoans, which have four of these arms.) These oral arms become fused as they approach the central part of the jellyfish. The mouth of the animal is also subdivided into minute pores that are linked to coelenteron.

[thedriftingjellyfish]

Introducing Yura!

"In a world of uncertainties, I’ll be your steady companion~"

this is my twst oc, Yura Scyphozoa! (everyone say hiiii :D) she's based off of jellyfishes, mainly the scyphozoan types.

some basic lore that i've established

she hails from the coral sea from an unspecified bloom

her surname isn't her actual surname, it was something she chose at random when she needed official documents (*wheezes* i can't name anything for the life of me)

her hair is actually not hair, but tentacles. they look and feel like clear slime that was left out to dry; and her hair can be manipulated by adding water www. they also shrink even more if the weather is too hot, her hair is pretty long in merform since there's an abundance of water but since she's studying in NRC she has to be on land, hence the shorter hair.

the smaller tentacles are rounded most of the time unless someone (coughs. floyd) attempts to chomp on her hair, in which it would straighten out and attempt to shock said person. she can control these little tentacles!

she prefers foods that have heavy flavours, but cannot tolerate spice (this includes chili/ peppers, but does not include black pepper etc.)

she loves creating things as well as collecting anything that remotely interests her (think shiny gems, flowers, plants, trinkets/ baubles etc.)

is very interested in dorm leader azul, would spend hours on end relaxing in mostro lounge and observing people while working on her crafts.

[electronicdreamerdreamer]

Hi. Been a long time since I wrote here. After exploring myself and my interests I have finally figured out my special interests:

Sharks

Serial killers

Scyphozoan jellyfish

Pusheen

Japanese poetry

The Groke from Moomins

[mbari-blog]

POV: floating under the sea, serenely drifting with the jellies. 

There are lots of gelatinous animals in the ocean, but when you hear about "jellyfish," you probably think about something that looks like this. The so-called "true" jellyfish, a class called the Scyphozoans, are the ones you usually see near the ocean surface. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ 

Most people underestimate the true diversity of this dazzling group of animals. Taxonomically, they are far more varied than a handful of the most common examples used to represent jellyfish. This species, Poralia rufescens, is one most of us will never see. It lives deep below the sea surface to thousands of meters and is usually seen floating near the seafloor. Watch the full video on our YouTube channel.

[gofishygo]

27 💥💥💥💥💥💥💗💗💗💗💗💗💗!!!!!!

27- you can only invite 3 marine creatures to ur whalefall feast . who ?

okok so my first pick is the pacific sleeper shark !! they're one of the species that participate in the mobile scavenger phase, so it is very good for them . plus they look so stupid silly i love them !! one of our most mysterious creechures rahhhh

for the enrichment opportunity phase , i would like 2 go with the balloon worm !! theyre a polychaete that eats carrion , so whale falls can be beneficial to them :3 theyre a super odd looking sea worm and they go blobloblob and i keep misclassifying them as scyphozoans .... help ......

i do not know much about species that inhabit the final stages of whale falls , so BAM GET HIT W ANOTHER MOBILE SCAVENGER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!11uhmmm hits u w the peacock mantis shrimp !! i dont know much about them tbh and im pretty sure they dont actually participate in whalefalls .....bbbut they look so so silly.....

images incoming !!

[donuts4evry1]

It’s kind of sad how much jellyfish lore isn’t common knowledge

like, most people don’t know the scientific name of the most well-studied Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita)

some people think that jellyfish electrocute people, while others think that they’re fish.

some don’t know about the “Immortal Jellyfish” (despite the hundreds of click-baity headlines, haha)

some still think that pee is an effective treatment for stings.

I hope I don’t come across as pretentious, but it really does make it kind of hard for me to talk about jellyfish to other people because. Well. There’s already a sort of a learning curve? Anyways it’ll be weird if I ever meet anyone who is as infatuated to jellyfish as I am in real life because I don’t think I’ll be used to talking technical terms to other people in real life... We’ll see though