Date: Mon Dec 26 20:25:11 2005
Posted By: Allison J. Gong, Lecturer/researcher
Area of science: Zoology
ID: 1134697414.Zo
Message:
Hi Adriana,
Thanks for your question! I'm sorry for taking so long to answer it for
you, and hope you are still interested in the information.
It turns out that there are a lot of animals in the sea that eat
jellies. In fact, most of them are other jellies! Here are some of the
main jelly predators:
- Ocean
sunfish (Mola mola) - These large fish often bask in the
warm surface waters of the ocean and feed on jellies. They must not be
deterred by the jellies' sting!
- Jellies are the preferred prey of leatherback turtles
. Leatherbacks are the largest of the sea turtles and can feed on
dinner-plate-sized jellies. They migrate from the tropics to the poles
because jellies are more prevalent in cold water. That's a long way to
swim for your dinner, isn't it?
- Sunfish and leatherback turtles are large animals, but the most
voracious predators of jellies are probably other jellies. Off the
coast of California, where I live, there are many kinds of jelly-eating
jellies. The Monterey Bay
Aquarium has fact sheets on these and other marine animals. Some of
the comb jellies prey
almost exclusively on other comb jellies, and can even engulf prey as large
as themselves. Comb jellies don't have a sting and have to capture jelly
prey by swallowing them whole, but the cnidarian jellies do. Several of
them use the stinging cells on their tentacles to feed on moon
jellies. The poor moon jelly's sting is relatively weak and apparently
not a complete defense against even small predators.
I hope this answers your question about who eats jellies. If you'd like
more information about jellies and who eats them, a Google search for
"jelly predator" should do the trick!
Allison J. Gong
MAD Scientist
Admin note - People too have been known to eat jellyfish. Most species you'll
find served in Asian cuisines have a textures varying from crunchy to that of a
somewhat chewy cucumber, and flavor varying from no taste, to slightly salty, to
more "marine" but not quite fishy.
Current Queue |
Current Queue for Zoology |
Zoology archives
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Zoology.
MadSci Home | Information |
Search |
Random Knowledge Generator |
MadSci Archives |
Mad Library | MAD Labs |
MAD FAQs |
Ask a ? |
Join Us! |
Help Support MadSci
MadSci Network,
webadmin@madsci.org
© 1995-2006. All rights reserved.