#KnowledgeBomb - Golden Jellyfish

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @JenSquard

I am totally losing my danged mind over National Geographic's Great Migrations.  I LOVE LOVE friggin LOVE animal documentaries like that - Planet Earth, Blue Planet... and now Great Migrations.  It's all about the journeys different species have to take for food, sexy time and survival as a whole.  I don't entirely think this video shows a great migration, but it is one of my favorite stories of evolution.

So here's the thing.  Jellyfish capture their food by stinging and often paralyzing them through nematocysts located in their tentacles.  When the nematocysts come in contact with prey (or predators) they fire off into the flesh, releasing some sort of nuero-toxin.  That's why it hurts like a bitch when you stung by a jelly.

These Golden Jellies are different.  Jellyfish Lake is connected to the ocean through a series of inlets and lagoons, and a large number of Golden Jellies have settled there.  There are fish and other small prey items in the lake, but the jellies evolved a symbiotic relationship with algae living in their tissues. 

Symbiosis is when two different organisms live and work together, to the benefit of each.  In this case, the jellies get food from the algae, and the algae get a nice warm place to live.  The jellies migrate throughout the lake following the sun, which is how the algae makes the food.  AMAZING, right?!?!???

That's the beauty of evolution and symbiosis!  Becuase they no longer needed the protection or predation of their stinging arms, they basically lost them.  They still have nematocysts, but in super small quantities, and nothing that will harm a human.  Do you know what that means?  YOU CAN SWIM WITH THE JELLYFISH!

 These are the things that make my nerdy brain explode!  Aaaaah! 

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