Interesting Facts about Jelly Fish

We are all aware about Jelly fish they are very common through out the world. Here is a list of some interesting facts about Jelly Fish:

Though they refer to as jelly FISH; technically they are not a fish as they do not have any fish like features such as gills. They breathe through their skin.

Jelly fish is carnivorous. They feed on crustaceans, fish eggs, planktons, small fish and even other jelly fish.

They are the oldest multi-organ animal. They are living in earth for more than 500 million years. The size of a jelly fish can vary from 1 mm to a few meters in diameter.

They are common in every ocean. Very few of them also live in fresh water.

Jelly fish is famous for their toxicity. Upon touching a jelly fish nematocyst cells pierce the skin of the victim and release toxin inside the body. There toxin levels vary species to species. The venom from a sea wasp (a species of box jelly fish) can kill a man within minutes.

They can reproduce both sexually and asexually. A single jelly fish can release more than 45000 eggs per day. The larva of a jelly fish is called planula larva.

Though it seems odd but more people killed by jelly fish than sharks through out the year.

They lack any skeleton i.e. no skeleton is present externally or internally. Depending upon species jelly fish contains 95-98% water in the body composition. They do not possess any circulatory, digestive, respiratory systems.

Jelly fish do not have any locomotary organ; they move through the water by contracting and expanding their umbrella shaped bodies. 

The life span of a jelly fish can vary from few hours to few months.

Some of them possess light emitting organs (bioluminescent organ) and can glow in the dark.

There are two phases of a jelly fish’s life viz. polyp and medusa. It is the medusa phase (umbrella shaped) that we generally refer to as jelly fish.

Jelly fish is harvested for its collagen. This is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Some jelly fish such as blubber jelly fish are edible too. In some Asian countries like Japan and Korea jelly fish is taken as food.

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