Jellyfish - what's the story??

Kirby · 05-08-2013 05:10PM

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

They should start a jellyfish forum on boards. It'd be great for bipolar Joe's self-esteem.

Surely, he'd have threads about how great they are one day and threads about how terrible they are the next.

crazygeryy · 05-08-2013 05:10PM

stupid question ahead!

can you eat jelly fish?

Bipolar Joe · 05-08-2013 05:20PM

Mariasofia wrote: »

Swoon......keep talking Joe.;)

OK! More about their brains, because it is awesome. I guess it depends on what you consider a brain, or sentience, but I do believe that the neural net counts as a type of brain. They have a bunch of nerves which can feel, and this lets them know and do certain things, like travelling. A lot of them don't swim in the conventional sense, sort of like a controlled floating. They can detect salinity, and the flow of the tide. Every tentacle sends messages to the bell, and this tells them which direction food or rocks might be. Some of them even see! They have little things ocelli, which detects light, and that's how they know what way is up. Then you have the Cubozoa, which really do have eyes! They have 24, some of them can see points of light, some of them can even see colour! If that wasn't cool enough, they pretty much have a 360 degree view. They might have the closest thing to a brain as they're usually understood. They're pretty dumb, but they can learn through conditioning, like "This looks like this, feels like this, can not go through or eat." which can turn into "This looks like this, can not go through or eat." when it sees a rock. Unfortunately, they're also vicious, and maybe because of their intelligence, evolved to be able to swim towards prey and deliver a really, really nasty sting, which can kill you. You don't get them around Ireland a whole lot (Basically almost never.)

Rubecula · 05-08-2013 05:23PM

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

If you got stung by a jellyfish, are you meant to pee on the sting?

It was on Friends years ago.

Common misconception that one. In reality it does you no good. But it is fun to watch someone trying to pee on their own back.

"The Mane. The lion's mane" *gasps and falls over.

The worst jellyfish to be stung by are not really around these shores. Portugese Man'o'War is a nasty bugger but not as bad as the Box Jellyfish. It is hard to see in water and if stung it will almost certainly be lethal without medical aid. But they are not found around here.

Bipolar Joe · 05-08-2013 05:29PM

Don't pee on a jellyfish sting, you're actually better off just swishing the bit that was stung around in the sea, or pouring salt water over it. Vinegar is even better. Better still is probably going to the hospital for a heavy grade pain killer and proper treatment.

Some jellyfish are totally edible. The first one that springs to mind is the Stomolophus Meleagris. I'll give you one guess where they get eaten the most. I don't think I could ever eat one, they're too pretty to me.

I feel so popular!

Mrs Garth Brooks · 05-08-2013 05:33PM

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Don't pee on a jellyfish sting, you're actually better off just swishing the bit that was stung around in the sea, or pouring salt water over it. Vinegar is even better. Better still is probably going to the hospital for a heavy grade pain killer and proper treatment.

Some jellyfish are totally edible. The first one that springs to mind is the Stomolophus Meleagris. I'll give you one guess where they get eaten the most. I don't think I could ever eat one, they're too pretty to me.

I feel so popular!

How do you know so much? Are you copying and pasting from wikipedia?

Bipolar Joe · 05-08-2013 05:35PM

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

How do you know so much? Are you copying and pasting from wikipedia?

The same way some people know everything about birds or cars or Johnny Depp. I think they're great and awesome fascinating and learning about them isn't hard to me because I enjoy knowing everything I can about how they work! I'm actually not very clever, but jellyfish are the one thing I can talk about.

Rubecula · 05-08-2013 05:49PM

I just came across this which may be of interest on this thread.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10583405.Stinging_wobbly_visitors_as_jellyfish_bloom_hits_beaches/

April O Neill · 05-08-2013 08:20PM

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Honestly, this is the only time I'm ever gonna look smart so I'm milking it.

It's interesting! I doubt the OP expected someone with so much knowledge of jellyfish to respond.

mad m · 05-08-2013 08:42PM

Got stung by Lions Maine couple years back, initially sting wasn't bad as I kept swimming (doing sea race). When I got out of water this is when pain started. Arm was on fire, wound kept weeping. A mate of mine got a rough towel and dragged it down where I got stung, needless to say I screamed with pain.

Arm wept for hours after, for 36hrs I couldn't sit still, my body was jutting or as if I had a nervous tick as if I had an itch all over body I couldn't scratch. This was the venom going through body I believe. Unreal experience. Have been swimming in sea regularly since June and haven't been stung.....fingers crossed....

Archeron · 05-08-2013 09:09PM

averagejoesgym wrote: »

Check out http://www.jellyfish.ie/irish_sea_jellyfish.asp

I have seen the compass jellyfish in the sea where I swim they look nasty and their tentacles are so long. :eek:

Don't think I ever have been stung, however I did step on something at the waters edge on the beach in Fanore in Clare one day and it was seriously painfull had to get someone else to drive home my foot was too sore.

Very cool link. I will never enter the sea again though.

mallards · 05-08-2013 09:13PM

crazygeryy wrote: »

stupid question ahead!

can you eat jelly fish?

I ate one in a chinese restaurant in new york. I knew what it was when I ordered it but in my head I was thinking it might come out to me as some sort of three in one. In reality, it was placed in front of me totally covering a single white plate. Raw and cut into thick slices. It was served with a small ramikin of soy sauce and another of toasted sesame seeds. Well what was a man to do! It had the texture of set wall paper paste, cold, wet and probably tasted like it too. I threw four slices down me so the lads in the kitchen wouldn't think I was a wuss. The chinese waiter asked me did I like it when he came to collect the plate and said he was surprised I ate it as only old chinese people ordered the dish to help them with the sh1ts. I smiled politely, necked the shot of soy and left.

Teyla Emmagan · 05-08-2013 09:25PM

averagejoesgym wrote: »

Check out http://www.jellyfish.ie/irish_sea_jellyfish.asp

I have the heebie jeebies now.

Notorious97 · 05-08-2013 09:37PM

These little fellas are the reason i cannot swim in the sea, just freaks me out haha

Thanks for all that info joe, always wondered about them and reading through this thread was actually useful
to learn something new!

Chancer3001 · 05-08-2013 09:49PM

I love bipolar joe.

Poster of the month!!

I can safely-ish return to the sea!!

Hal1 · 05-08-2013 10:07PM

From which we all once came

.

seven_eleven · 05-08-2013 11:11PM

I always see these little (and big) white jelly fish washed up on the beach. They're semi-translucent, and just look like a blob of silicone to be honest.

greenflash · 05-08-2013 11:32PM

As a kid we used to pick up the harmless four ring jellyfish and throw them at each other. We'd scoop them up by flipping over the bell in the palm of our hands then fling them. They don't have tentacles as such, more a wispy fringe round the edge of the bell. Once I saw a jellyfish and went to throw it at my sister but failed to spot this one was brown and had a different pattern on the bell. I put my hand on top and scooped it over and up and a long brown tentacle flopped onto my arm, stinging me from my wrist to my armpit. The pain was so bad I got sick. The red welts on my arm lasted at least a month and kept flaring up painfully every few days.

I was in Spain last year when there was a swarm of mauve stingers all along the coast so didn't go swimming at all for a couple of days after seeing a couple of people carried out of the water with stings all over their bodies.

The most positive jellyfish story I have is of scuba diving through a swarm of thousands of tiny neon blue jellyfish while in the Carribean a few years ago. Breathtaking dive that day.

Czarcasm · 06-08-2013 12:25AM

I'd always wondered how jellyfish reproduce, but apparently they're not that far off from humans... sort of...

From Wikipedia:

In most cases, adults release sperm and eggs into the surrounding water, where the (unprotected) eggs are fertilized and mature into new organisms. In a few species, the sperm swim into the female's mouth fertilizing the eggs within the female's body where they remain during early development stages. In moon jellies, the eggs lodge in pits on the oral arms, which form a temporary brood chamber for the developing planula larvae.

So, the male puts his bell end in the females mouth...

Oh, and they don't need anyone else around to get pregnant either, they can reproduce sexually and asexually!

Crazy shìt :pac:

rustedtrumpet · 06-08-2013 01:31AM

My friend stud on a sea-urchin last year on holidays. That really put him out of business. Especially on the 2nd day of a 5 day festival. Poolside bound for the majority of it. So many spines in his foot, didn't come out until a few days after he got home.

hidinginthebush · 06-08-2013 01:52AM

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

OK! More about their brains, because it is awesome. I guess it depends on what you consider a brain, or sentience, but I do believe that the neural net counts as a type of brain. They have a bunch of nerves which can feel, and this lets them know and do certain things, like travelling. A lot of them don't swim in the conventional sense, sort of like a controlled floating. They can detect salinity, and the flow of the tide. Every tentacle sends messages to the bell, and this tells them which direction food or rocks might be. Some of them even see! They have little things ocelli, which detects light, and that's how they know what way is up. Then you have the Cubozoa, which really do have eyes! They have 24, some of them can see points of light, some of them can even see colour! If that wasn't cool enough, they pretty much have a 360 degree view. They might have the closest thing to a brain as they're usually understood. They're pretty dumb, but they can learn through conditioning, like "This looks like this, feels like this, can not go through or eat." which can turn into "This looks like this, can not go through or eat." when it sees a rock. Unfortunately, they're also vicious, and maybe because of their intelligence, evolved to be able to swim towards prey and deliver a really, really nasty sting, which can kill you. You don't get them around Ireland a whole lot (Basically almost never.)

That is absolutely fascinating Joe. Could this then be viewed as a steppingstone on how we evolved to develop eyes? Start off being able to detect light, then gradually hone those skills?

How do jellyfish eat? Do they sting their prey then hope it floats into their body? I presume the barbs can't move food towards their mouth? And on the topic of eating, do they have stomachs? I've always kept my distance, but jellyfish seem to be pretty uniform in their makeup, there doesn't seem to be different organs throughout their body.

Please keep talking, this is brilliant! How do you know so much? Are you a zoologist or something like that?

Capt'n Midnight · 06-08-2013 10:59AM

You couldn't make this stuff up.

This is what happened in a Korean Nuclear power station back in '97
http://www.nti.org/facilities/6/

But it's OK because the nuclear industry learns from it's mistakes so it shouldn't happen again.

Except since then jellyfish have also taken out Nuclear power plants in
Japan http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-japan-nuclear-jellyfish-idUSTRE75N0Z520110624
Scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-13971005
Florida http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/jellyfish-swarm-shuts-down-st-lucie-nuclear-power-/nL2Hc/
California http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/27/11432974-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-in-california-knocked-offline-by-jellyfish-like-creature-called-salp?lite
Israel http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43673597/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/jellyfish-invasions-force-shutdowns-separate-nuclear-plants/
South Africa http://scienceinafrica.com/wildlife/rise-jellyfish-joyride

Capt'n Midnight · 06-08-2013 11:00AM

at the rate we are taking fish out of the sea soon it will be just jellyfish and squid left

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/may/20/stung-researcher-connects-jellyfish-blooms-doomed-/
http://ens-newswire.com/2013/05/30/un-warns-of-global-shift-from-a-fish-to-a-jellyfish-ocean/

Assassin saphir · 06-08-2013 11:36AM

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_stingray

On holidays in Barbados last year and I was snorkeling a shallow reef. I went to stand up in the water and luckily looked down before I put my feet into the sand. Saw two eyes looking up at me. The southern stingray was so well camouflaged against the seabed only for his eyes I would have stepped on him.

April O Neill · 06-08-2013 06:32PM

SeaFields wrote: »

they are some sight in the water pulsating along.

Yeah, I don't like happening upon when I'm actually in the water, but they are very cool to watch from dry land or a boat.

April O Neill · 06-08-2013 06:34PM

*puts up hand*

Bipolar Joe, we saw moon jellyfish on the sand a few weeks ago that looked like they were evaporating. Some were really shrivelled and only the gonads remained. Is this their fate when they get washed up? Was that actually what was happening to them?

April O Neill · 06-08-2013 06:45PM

Rubecula wrote: »

Portugese Man'o'War is a nasty bugger but not as bad as the Box Jellyfish.

Apparently, the Portuguese Man O War isn't a jellyfish! :eek:

daddyorchips · 06-08-2013 06:48PM

Is it true that jellyfish are genetically immortal ?

April O Neill · 06-08-2013 06:58PM

greenflash wrote: »

As a kid we used to pick up the harmless four ring jellyfish and throw them at each other. We'd scoop them up by flipping over the bell in the palm of our hands then fling them.

At the beach a few weeks ago, all the kids there were running around carrying them, and as you walked down the beach all you could hear was children uttering the word "jellyfish".

April O Neill · 06-08-2013 07:03PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

I'd always wondered how jellyfish reproduce, but apparently they're not that far off from humans... sort of...

From Wikipedia:

So, the male puts his bell end in the females mouth...

No, just the sperm apparently.

But still kinda similar.

Jellyfish - what's the story??

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