Some species of jellyfish are suitable for human consumption and are used as a source of food and as an ingredient in various dishes. Edible jellyfish is a seafood that is harvested and consumed in several East and Southeast Asian countries, and in some Asian countries it is considered to be a delicacy.
Jellyfish are an essential part of many food chains. By feeding on smaller creatures such as fish larvae and eggs, jellyfish help to control species' populations and maintain the balance of the ocean's ecosystem. As well as eating other animals, jellyfish are often prey themselves – even for other jellyfish!
Jellyfish is known for a delicate, slightly salty, flavour that means it's eaten more as a textural experience. Its slimy, slightly chewy consistency means that Chinese and Japanese gourmands often eat it raw or sliced up as a salad ingredient.
Their propensity to breed fast and prolifically means jellyfish can disrupt ocean ecosystems in a flash. And their effects aren't contained to the sea. In places like Sweden, Israel, the US and the Philippines, power plants have been affected by blooms of jellyfish.
For instance, the gobies are "miraculously" immune to a jellyfish's nasty sting. They've even been seen resting on the organisms's bells, or main body parts, as well as swimming among jellyfish tentacles, Braithwaite said. (See a picture of the deadly box jellyfish.)
Jellyfish don't usually mean to sting humans. They sting when you brush up against them while swimming or walking along the beach. Most jellyfish stings are harmless. But some jellyfish stings can cause serious harm.
The little fat it contains is the essential omega-3 and omega-6 unsaturated fatty acids. About 25 to 30 species of jellyfish in the world are edible, including a few in Australian waters.
The most prominent countries involved in edible jellyfish production are Burma, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
Most jellyfish live less than one year, and some some of the smallest may live only a few days. Each species has a natural life cycle in which the jellyfish form is only part of the life cycle (see video clip showing different life cycle stages).
The 'immortal' jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii
These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.
Just like butterflies, which that are born from the transformation of caterpillars, jellyfish are born by asexual reproduction from polyps that – unlike caterpillars – remain alive for many years.
"It may not seem surprising that jellyfish sleep—after all, mammals sleep, and other invertebrates such as worms and fruit flies sleep," says Ravi Nath, the paper's co-first author and a graduate student in the Sternberg laboratory. "But jellyfish are the most evolutionarily ancient animals known to sleep.
Jellyfish predate dinosaurs by hundreds of millions of years. Jellyfish don't have bones, so fossils are hard to come by. Even so, scientists have uncovered evidence these creatures have been living in our Ocean for at least 500 million years!
Jellyfish reproduce both sexually and asexually. One generation (the medusa) reproduces sexually and the next generation (the polyp) reproduces asexually.
Grey triggerfish, ocean sunfish, seabirds, turtles, whale sharks, crabs, and whales eat jellyfish naturally.
Though jellyfish do not have a brain, they are incredibly smart and adaptable.
While box jellyfish are found in warm coastal waters around the world, the lethal varieties are found primarily in the Indo-Pacific region and northern Australia. This includes the Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), considered the most venomous marine animal.
Comb jellyfish are completely harmless with no stingers.
The most common type of stinging jellyfish is the bluebottle. These are found in non-tropical areas, especially along the south-eastern coastline of Australia. Their stings are painful, but they don't usually need medical treatment.
The Irukandji jellyfish (/ɪrəˈkændʒi/ irr-ə-KAN-jee) are any of several similar, extremely venomous species of rare jellyfish. With a very small adult size of about a cubic centimetre (1 cm3), they are both the smallest and one of the most venomous jellyfish in the world.
There are several popular methods to relieving the pain of a jellyfish sting, one being to apply urine. However, one UAMS specialist says there is no evidence that this method works. “Despite what anyone tells you, do not apply vinegar, urine or meat tenderizer to the affected area,” UAMS neurosurgeon Dr.
Can jellyfish feel pain? Jellyfish don't feel pain in the same way that humans would. They do not possess a brain, heart, bones or a respiratory system. They are 95% water and contain only a basic network of neurons that allow them to sense their environment.
Jellyfish sting their prey with their tentacles, releasing a venom that paralyzes their targets. Jellyfish don't go after humans, but someone who swims up against or touches one — or even steps on a dead one — can be stung all the same.
Jellyfish sting for the same reason many sharks bite, they bump into something they think might be food and try and eat it. Are jellyfish conscious? Jellyfish have no brains and therefore are not aware of their own existence. So no, while alive they are not “conscious”.