Let's learn about jellyfish!
Fun Facts about Jellyfish!
- They have been on this planet for millions of years, even before the dinosaurs!
- They live on ocean currents and like cold and warm water.
- Even though they're called jellyFISH, they are not fish. Fish are what you can call vertebrates (because they have a backbone). Jellyfish are invertebrates (because they do not have a backbone).
- Jellyfish have tiny stinging cells on the end of their stringy tentacles to paralyze (stun) their prey (food) before they eat it.
- Jellyfish digest food really quickly, because they can't go swimming around with a lot of extra weight, because they rely on floating.
- They LOVE to eat fish, crabs, shrimp, and small plants.
- Sea turtles like to eat Jellyfish.
- In China, jellyfish are considered a delicacy, since they have been fished by Chinese for 1,700 years.
Gross but true:
Inside their bell shaped body, there is a mouth, but not just any mouth! They consume (eat) food through it, but they also dicsard waste through it. This means that they basically poop out of their mouth! EW! But that's not all that they use their mouth for! They squirt water out from it, and this lets them go forward.
OUCH!
Jellyfish stings can be painful to humans, but also vey dangerous! This is why when some people see a jellyfish, they will run away. But the truth is, they dont sting us on purpose. (because they only sting their prey, and they can't swallow a human... obviously!) They usually sting you if you accidentally touch them, otherwise they'll leave you alone!
Jelly fashion!
Jellyfish come in many different colours. Some are transparent (see-through, clear) while others can be colours like pink, yellow, blue, and purple. Some can even be luminescent (kind of glow in the dark).
This is our jellyfish gallery.
Most people, when they think about jellyfish, they think of only one or two types of jellyfish. Which one? Only you can know that! All of these images are from Wikipedia Look at them, and then take the quiz to see which ones you can remember!
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Moon Jellyfish
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Box Jellyfish
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Cannonball Jellyfish
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Purple-striped Jellyfish
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Blue Jellyfish
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Diplulmaris Antarctica
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Black Sea Nettle
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Lion's Mane Jellyfish
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White-spotted Jellyfish
Now, we challenge you to go and tell someone else your three favourite jiggly-jellyfish-facts!
Think you're a pro? Take this quiz to find out!
How did you do? Did you know as many as you expected? Get a friend or family member to read this page and take the quiz! See if they did better!