Comb jelly
Ctenophora spp.
- On view
- Open Sea
- Animal type
- Invertebrates
- Ecosystem
- Open ocean
- Relatives
- Phylum: Ctenophora; Sea gooseberry, lobed comb jelly, bloody-belly comb jelly
- Diet
- Plankton, small crustaceans, other jellies
- Range
- Varies with species
- Size
- Varies with species
Meet the comb jelly
The comb jelly is a beautiful, oval-shaped animal with eight rows of tiny comblike plates they beat to move through the water. As a comb jelly swims, their comb rows break up light to produce a shimmering rainbow effect. Comb jellies are voracious predators—some species can expand their stomachs to capture other jellies half their own size!
Natural history
A jelly is a gelatinous creature with few specialized organs. Most jellies locate food by detecting chemical traces in the water. Many species are equipped with a gravity-sensitive structure called a statocyst that helps the jelly with orientation in the water.
Conservation
Jellies are very sensitive to water quality at certain points in their lifecycle. Changes in the health of jelly populations can signal larger environmental problems.
Cool facts
- A comb jelly’s soft body is perfectly adapted to their environment. Thin skin stretches over a body composed of more than 95 percent water, with no bones or shells to weigh them down.
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