Research on one electricfying creature. Tell us :
a) the name of the creature,
b) a brief description of it,
c) where it can be found,
d) its diet and
e) one interesting fact.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Electricfying creatures
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
19 comments:
Electric rays (order Torpediniformes) are fish that have a rounded body and a pair of organs capable of producing an electric discharge, varying from as little as 8 volts to up to 220 volts depending on the species, which is used to stun or kill prey. There are 69 species in four families.[1] The monotypic family Hypnidae, however, may be classed as a subfamily of Torpedinidae under the name Hypninae.
Perhaps the most known members are those of the genus Torpedo, also called crampfish and numbfish, after which the device called a torpedo is named. The name comes from the Latin "torpere", to be stiffened or paralyzed, referring to the effect on someone who handles or steps on a living electric ray.
Torpedo rays are excellent swimmers. Their round disk shaped bodies allow them to remain suspended in the water or roam for food with minimal swimming effort.
The electric ray's grey colour provides a good cover and makes it hard to distinguish it from the sandy ocean bottom.
In Marine life, the challenge is to eat and not to get eaten.
This interesting ray, unlike the stingray, uses electricity to protect itself from danger. electric rays are equipped with specialized electricity-producing organs that can unleash powerful electric shocks that help these rays protect themselves and stun
prey. Electric rays cannot use their electricity-producing ability from far. It takes time for them to store more electricity and in the interim might have trouble warding off another attack.
Electric rays are usually found on sandy bottoms around rocky reefs and kelp beds.
Talking about its diet, it depends on its species. Common electric rays eat fishes, worms, and crustaceans. Adult Atlantic rays consume eels, flounders, and small sharks.
Most electric rays bury themselves under sand during the day and come out at night to feed. If prey is encountered, the ray will stun the creature with electricity. Then, the ray will guide the food with its pectoral fins to its mouth, which is located under its body.
Also, the electris ray's cousin, the Australian Coffin ray, can allow itself to be gulped up to half its own size!
Electric catfish: They come from the catfish (order Siluriformes) family Malapteruridae.
It can be found in the tropical africa and in the nile river.
Electric catfish are usually nocturnal and feed primarily on other fish, incapacitating their prey with electric discharges.
They do not have dorsal fins or fin spines. They have three pairs of barbels.
The electric eel, Electrophorus electricus, is a species of fish. It is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, which it uses for both hunting and self-defense. It is an apex predator in its South American range. Despite its name it is not an eel at all but rather a knifefish.
A typical electric eel has an elongated square body, a flattened head, and an overall dark grayish green color with yellowish on the front bottom area.[1] They have almost no scales. The mouth is square, placed right at the end of the snout. The anal fin continues down the length of the body to the tip of the tail.[2] It can grow up to 2.5 m (about 8.2 feet) in length and 20 kg (about 44 pounds) in weight, making them the largest Gymnotiform.[1][2] 1 m specimens are more common.[citation needed]
They have a vascularized respiratory organ in their oral cavity.[2] These fish are obligate air-breathers; rising to the surface every 10 minutes or so, the animal will gulp air before returning to the bottom. Nearly 80% of the oxygen used by the fish is taken in this way.[citation needed]. Despite its name, the electric eel is not related to eels but is more closely related to catfish.
Scientists have been able to determine through experimental information that E. electricus has a well developed sense of hearing. They have a Weberian apparatus that connects the ear to the swim bladder which greatly enhances their hearing capability
Electric eels can be found in fresh waters of Central and South America, such as in swamps, coastal plains, and creeks. They tend to live on muddy bottoms in calm water. Electric eels feed on invertebrates, while adult eels feed on fish and small mammals. First-born hatchlings will even prey on other eggs and embryos from later batches.
The species is so unusual that it has been reclassified several times. Originally it was given its own family Electrophoridae, and then placed in a genus of Gymnotidae alongside Gymnotus.[2]
HI ALL!!! I have researched on the electric eel and I would like to share what I have found...
The electric eel has a square body, a flattened head, and an overall dark grayish green colour.
They have almost no scales and their mouth is square, placed right at the end of the snout.
It can grow up to 2.5 m in length and 20 kg in weight.
Electric eels can be found in fresh waters of Central and South America, such as in swamps, coastal plains, and creeks. They tend to live on muddy bottoms in calm water.
They also feed mainly on invertebrates, while adult eels feed on fish and small mammals. First-born hatchlings will even prey on other eggs and embryos from later batches.
An interesting about the electric eel is when it locates its prey, the brain sends a signal through the nervous system to the electric cells. This opens the ion channel, allowing positively-charged sodium to flow through, reversing the charges momentarily. By causing a sudden difference in voltage, it generates a current. The electric eel generates its characteristic electrical pulse in a manner similar to a battery, in which stacked plates produce an electrical charge. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques are capable of producing a shock at up to 500 volts and 1 ampere of current (500 watts).
The electric eel, known for its ability to generate an electric current, looks somewhat like other eels but has different habits and is therefore not considered a true eel. It is a spineless, toothless fish that grows up to three feet (2.7 m) long. It is found in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers of South America. The electric eel's vital organs (brain, heart, digestive system) are near the front of its body. The rest of the body contains a platelike arrangement of organs that produce electrical current by a chemical reaction. The electric eel can produce a current of up to 650 volts—enough to shock a human. The eel uses this current to stun or kill the smaller fish it eats, and to defend itself against enemies.
The electric eel produces a current of up to 650 volts.How Shocking Is an Electric Eel?
You might be shocked to find out that despite its name and looks, an electric eel is not an eel at all! It belongs to a family of bony fish known as knifefish. Even though it’s not an eel, an electric eel’s name isn’t all wrong.It can stun or kill any human or small fish.
An electric eel has three pairs of electric organs on each side of its body. Each organ has thousands of muscle cells. The cells give off small bursts of electricity after a nerve sets them off. Each burst lasts about 1/500 of a second. It is short but powerful!
Electric eels live in muddy rivers in South America. They grow to 8 feet (2.4 meters) long.
The electric eel is Electrophorus electricus; it is the only member of the family Electrophoridae.
Hi everyone!!!I'mhere to present the ELECTRIC EEL.
A typical electric eel has an elongated square body, a flattened head, and an overall dark grayish green color with yellowish on the front bottom area. They have almost no scales. The mouth is square, placed right at the end of the snout. The anal fin continues down the length of the body to the tip of the tail. It can grow up to 2.5 m (about 8.2 feet) in length and 20 kg (about 44 pounds) in weight, making them the largest Gymnotiform. 1 m specimens are more common.
They have a vascularized respiratory organ in their oral cavity. These fish are obligate air-breathers; rising to the surface every 10 minutes or so, the animal will gulp air before returning to the bottom. Nearly 80% of the oxygen used by the fish is taken in this way. Despite its name, the electric eel is not related to eels but is more closely related to catfish.
Scientists have been able to determine through experimental information that E. electricus has a well developed sense of hearing. They have a Weberian apparatus that connects the ear to the swim bladder which greatly enhances their hearing capability.
The electric eel has three abdominal pairs of organs that produce electricity. They are the main organ, the hunter's organ, and the Sachs organ. These organs comprise 4/5 of its body. Only the front 1/5 contains the vital organs. These organs are made of electrocytes lined up in series. The electrocytes are lined up so the current flows through them and produces an electrical charge. When the eel locates its prey, the brain sends a signal through the nervous system to the electric cells. This opens the ion channel, allowing positively-charged sodium to flow through, reversing the charges momentarily. By causing a sudden difference in voltage, it generates a current. The electric eel generates its characteristic electrical pulse in a manner similar to a battery, in which stacked plates produce an electrical charge. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques are capable of producing a shock at up to 500 volts and 500 watts. The organs give the electric eel the ability to generate two types of electric organ discharges , low voltage and high voltage. The shock could be harmful for an adult human.
The Sachs organ is associated with electrolocation. Inside the organ are many muscle-like cells, called electrocytes. Each cell can only produce 0.15V, though working together the organ transmits a signal of about 10V in amplitude at around 25 Hz. These signals are what is thought to be used for communication as well as orientation; useful not only for finding prey, but also in finding and choosing a mate.
High-voltage EODs are emitted by the main organ and the Hunter's organ that can be emitted at rates of several hundred Hz. These high voltage EODs may reach up to 650 volts. The electric eel is unique among the gymnotiforms in having large electric organs capable of producing lethal discharges that allows them to stun prey. There are reports of animals producing larger voltages, but the typical output is sufficient to stun or deter virtually any other animal. Juveniles produce smaller voltages (about 100 volts). Electric eels are capable of varying the intensity of the electrical discharge, using lower discharges for "hunting" and higher intensities for stunning prey, or defending themselves. When agitated, it is capable of producing these intermittent electrical shocks over a period of at least an hour without signs of tiring. The species is of some interest to researchers, who make use of its acetylcholinesterase and ATP.
The electric eel also possesses high-frequency sensitive tuberous receptors patchily distributed over the body that seem useful for hunting other Gymnotiformes.
Electric eels can be found in fresh waters of Central and South America, such as in swamps, coastal plains, and creeks. They tend to live on muddy bottoms in calm water.
Electric eels feed on invertebrates, while adult eels feed on fish and small mammals. First-born hatchlings will even prey on other eggs and embryos from later batches.
The species is so unusual that it has been reclassified several times. Originally it was given its own family Electrophoridae, and then placed in a genus of Gymnotidae alongside Gymnotus.
A typical electric eel has an elongated square body, a flattened head, and an overall dark grayish green color with yellowish on the front bottom area.[1] They have almost no scales. The mouth is square, placed right at the end of the snout. The anal fin continues down the length of the body to the tip of the tail.[2] It can grow up to 2.5 m (about 8.2 feet) in length and 20 kg (about 44 pounds) in weight, making them the largest Gymnotiform.[1][2] 1 m specimens are more common.[citation needed]
They have a vascularized respiratory organ in their oral cavity.[2] These fish are obligate air-breathers; rising to the surface every 10 minutes or so, the animal will gulp air before returning to the bottom. Nearly 80% of the oxygen used by the fish is taken in this way.[citation needed]. Despite its name, the electric eel is not related to eels but is more closely related to catfish.
Scientists have been able to determine through experimental information that E. electricus has a well developed sense of hearing. They have a Weberian apparatus that connects the ear to the swim bladder which greatly enhances their hearing capability.[citation needed]
[edit] Physiology
Electric eel at the New England Aquarium.The electric eel has three abdominal pairs of organs that produce electricity. They are the main organ, the hunter's organ, and the Sachs organ. These organs comprise 4/5 of its body. Only the front 1/5 contains the vital organs.[1] These organs are made of electrocytes lined up in series. The electrocytes are lined up so the current flows through them and produces an electrical charge. When the eel locates its prey, the brain sends a signal through the nervous system to the electric cells. This opens the ion channel, allowing positively-charged sodium to flow through, reversing the charges momentarily. By causing a sudden difference in voltage, it generates a current. The electric eel generates its characteristic electrical pulse in a manner similar to a battery, in which stacked plates produce an electrical charge. In the electric eel, some 5,000 to 6,000 stacked electroplaques are capable of producing a shock at up to 500 volts and 1 ampere of current (500 watts). The organs give the electric eel the ability to generate two types of electric organ discharges (EODs), low voltage and high voltage. The shock could be harmful for an adult human.
The Sachs organ is associated with electrolocation.[1] Inside the organ are many muscle-like cells, called electrocytes. Each cell can only produce 0.15V, though working together the organ transmits a signal of about 10V in amplitude at around 25 Hz. These signals are what is thought to be used for communication as well as orientation; useful not only for finding prey, but also in finding and choosing a mate.
High-voltage EODs are emitted by the main organ and the Hunter's organ that can be emitted at rates of several hundred Hz. [1] These high voltage EODs may reach up to 650 volts. The electric eel is unique among the gymnotiforms in having large electric organs capable of producing lethal discharges that allows them to stun prey.[2] There are reports of animals producing larger voltages, but the typical output is sufficient to stun or deter virtually any other animal. Juveniles produce smaller voltages (about 100 volts). Electric eels are capable of varying the intensity of the electrical discharge, using lower discharges for "hunting" and higher intensities for stunning prey, or defending themselves. When agitated, it is capable of producing these intermittent electrical shocks over a period of at least an hour without signs of tiring. The species is of some interest to researchers, who make use of its acetylcholinesterase and ATP.[3][4]
The electric eel also possesses high-frequency sensitive tuberous receptors patchily distributed over the body that seem useful for hunting other Gymnotiformes.[1]
[edit] Ecology and life history
[edit] Habitat
Electric eels can be found in fresh waters of Central and South America, such as in swamps, coastal plains, and creeks. They tend to live on muddy bottoms in calm water. [1]
[edit] Feeding ecology
Electric eels feed on invertebrates, while adult eels feed on fish and small mammals. First-born hatchlings will even prey on other eggs and embryos from later batches..[1]
[edit] Taxonomic history
The species is so unusual that it has been reclassified several times. Originally it was given its own family Electrophoridae, and then placed in a genus of Gymnotidae alongside Gymnotus.[2]
The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is a long, snake-like fish that can generate electricity (it is not a true eel). It can produce a 600-volt electric shock. One shock from an electric eel will not kill a person, but repeated shocks will.
Electric eels are found in the Amazon River basin and other parts of South America. The electric eels reproduces by laying eggs. It is not a true eel.
The electric eel eats other fish. It gets its prey by shocking it with electricity. The young eat bottom-living invertebrates.
The electric eel has many interesting facts.I found these from Google.The electric eel grows to be almost 8 feet (2.5 m) long. Most of the internal organs are in the front 1/5 of this fish; the rest of the body contains the electricity-producing organs (modified muscles). The scales covering the body are tiny. The eyes are tiny, and as this fish ages, its vision diminishes. With age, the amperage of the fish's electric shock increases. The electric eel can live in stagnant, oxygen-deficient waters; its gills are modified into "lung-like" organs, and the electric eel must surface occasionally to gulp air.
The Black ghost knifefish is an electric fish but a very weak one. It means that the Black ghost knifefish can only generate a discharge that is typically less than one volt in amplitude. These are too weak to stun prey, but are used for navigation, object detection (electrolocation) and communication with other electric fish (electrocommunication). They can be found in South America,
Amazon Basin,Peru and Venezuela through Paraguay in the Paraná Rivers.The fish is all black except for two white rings on its tail, and a white blaze on its nose, which can occasionally extend into a stripe down its back. It moves mainly by undulating a long fin on its underside. It will grow to a maximum length of 25 inches (60 centimeters). The Black ghost knifefish feeds on smaller fish, bloodworms and feeder fish.
The black ghost knifefish natively lives in fast moving, sandy bottom creeks in a tropical climate. They prefer water with a 6.0 - 8.0 pH, a water hardness of 5.0 - 19.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 73-82 F (23-28 C). South American natives believe that the ghosts of the departed take up residence in these fish hence the name.
MOON JELLYFISH
Aurelia aurita(the moon jellyfish)is the most common jellyfish species found in the genus Aurelia.They are also found in the entire Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic to Mexico and in the northern hemisphere part of the Pacific Ocean.
The animal is translucent and has characteristic patterns of color within its body. It feeds by small medusans, plankton and mollusks with its tentacles and bringing them into its body for digestion.Like other jellies it drifts with the current.
Interesting facts:
-A moon jelly is whitish in color, often shaded with pink or blue.
-In open water, the tentacles are extended and hang down like a veil.
-Four-leaf-clover-shaped reproductive organs can be seen through its translucent dome.
-Embryos develop on special grooves in the adult female’s arms.
-The moon jellies are true jellies – the body is filled with a jelly-like substance.
Hi!! I wanna talk about the Electric Eel today...
A typical electric eel has an elongated square body, a flattened head, and an overall dark grayish green color with yellowish on the front bottom area.They have almost no scales. The mouth is square, placed right at the end of the snout. The anal fin continues down the length of the body to the tip of the tail.It can grow up to 2.5 m in length and 20 kg in weight, making them the largest Gymnotiform.
They have a vascularized respiratory organ in their oral cavity.These fish are obligate air-breathers; rising to the surface every 10 minutes or so, the animal will gulp air before returning to the bottom. Despite its name, the electric eel is not related to eels but is more closely related to catfish.
Scientists have been able to determine through experimental information that E. electricus has a well developed sense of hearing. They have a Weberian apparatus that connects the ear to the swim bladder which greatly enhances their hearing capability.[citation needed]
The electric eel can be found in the rivers of Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru near swamps, coastal plains, and creeks.
An Eletric eel eats other fish, clams, shrimp, insects, worms and plants in the wild and shrimp chunks in zoos.
Fun Fact: Electric Eels can produce up to 600-650 volts.That is enough electricity to kill 3 people!!!
Thks for posting this up!!!
Hi all! I just wanted to say that all living beings use electrical energy to survive. Without this electrical energy, our bodies would be unable to function. Electricity is of vital importance to the survival of every one of us, as well as for our ability to speak, move our muscles, and sense the world around us. In the absence of electrical flow, vital functions come to a halt and all of us will DIE! All members of the animal kingdom—human beings included—communicate, move about, and employ their five senses by means of the electricity generated within their bodies.
The electric eel, Electrophorus electricus, is a species of fish. It is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, which it uses for both hunting and self-defense. It is an apex predator in its South American range. Despite its name it is not an eel at all but rather a knifefish. Its body length can be up to 2.8 m ( 9.0 ft).It’s power of discharge can be up to 600.0 V and is enough to kill a horse. no scales; no dorsal fin; small eyes; shocks prey with electricity; modified gills to gulp air; olive-brown in colour; small, paired fins behind gills; 87.5% of the body is tail, with internal organs located in small space behind the head.
The electric eel feeds on fish and frogs. It can be found in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers of South America. The electric eel is one particular species found in the Gymnotidae family, a minute freshwater family with eel-like body forms that lack fins with the exception of the long anal fin and small pectorals, as well as possessing powerful jaws. They are capable of producing weak electric current, found in regions of Central and South America. The family, Gymnarchidae, consists of freshwater fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, also with an eel-like body and missing anal and pelvic fins, producing weak electric discharges to catch prey and in defense and navigation, inhibiting regions of tropical Africa. There exists other eels and knifefishes which also generate electrical discharge, similar to the electric eel.
GREETINGS PEOPLE!Presenting the world's famous electric dectective,the hammerhead shark!
If you were a small fish,burying yourself under the sand will seem like a good idea,right?
The answer is no.It will not stop you from being bait.A shark does not need to see its prey to know it is there.
The weak electric fields generated in a fish's body give it away.The brain and nerves produces electric "messages" to tell the body what to do,so an animal is sending out electrical signals even when it is not moving.
Sharks have special brain cells that can detect the electric currents of other living things.
Looks like fishes have to do more than hiding!
Electrifying Creature: Praying Mantis
Brief Description: The praying mantis has front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer.
They have triangular heads poised on a long "neck, and can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them.
Typically green or brown and well camouflaged on the plants among which they live, mantis stalk and preyed by using their spiked front legs to snare their prey with swift reflexes.
Where can it be found: South America, Africa, Saudi Arabia, India, South East Asia and parts of Australia?
Diet: Carnivore
Interesting Fact: Adult Female is known to eat her mate just after or even during mating. But it does not deter the mate from reproduction!!!
Hi everybody I have found some information on the electric rays
The kingdom is Animalia, and the order is Torpediniformes. It's family is Torpedinidae. Atlantic torpedo rays may be up to 1.82 metres in length. Females in general,are larger than males. The weight of an atlantic torpedo ray may reach 90 kg. Its diet depends on the species, electric rays may eat fishes, worms, and crustaceans. Adult Atlantic rays eat eels, flounders, and small sharks.Its range is in temperate and tropical waters worldwide.
This my interesting fact about electric rays:
The mouth of the Australian coffin ray (Hypnos monopterygium) is enormous, allowing it to gulp prey half the size of its body.
Electric eel (:
Despite their serpentine appearance, electric eels are not actually eels. Their scientific classification is closer to carp and catfish.
These famous freshwater predators get their name from the enormous electrical charge they can generate to stun prey and dissuade predators. Their bodies contain electric organs with about 6,000 specialized cells called electrocytes that store power like tiny batteries. When threatened or attacking prey, these cells will discharge simultaneously, emitting a burst of at least 600 volts, five times the power of a standard U.S. wall socket.
They live in the murky streams and ponds of the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, feeding mainly on fish, but also amphibians and even birds and small mammals. As air-breathers, they must come to the surface frequently. They also have poor eyesight, but can emit a low-level charge, less than 10 volts, which they use like radar to navigate and locate prey.
Electric eels can reach huge proportions, exceeding 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length and 44 pounds (20 kilograms) in weight. They have long, cylindrical bodies and flattened heads and are generally dark green or grayish on top with yellowish coloring underneath.
Human deaths from electric eels are extremely rare. However, multiple shocks can cause respiratory or heart failure, and people have been known to drown in shallow water after a stunning jolt.
Greetings! This what I found on the web!
In the Monterey Submarine Canyon at depths of 2,100 feet (645 meters) and more, is a cold, dark world inhabited by strange creatures including vampire squid and football fish. But now researchers have identified one of the strangest of all, a new species of jellyfish.
They named the new species granrojo, Spanish for "big red." It's a predator—a gelatinous blood-red cannonball between two and three feet (60 and 90 centimeters) across that floats through the deep ocean waters quietly devouring prey.
The creature is described as the first member of a new subfamily of jellyfish.
The massive jelly is particularly unusual because it lacks tentacles. From its giant, red, bell-shaped body protrude between four and seven short, thick arms.
"The discovery of Big Red is a little like finding the first member of the cat family," says Larry Madin, a marine biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "It is a pretty interesting find."
"We know almost nothing about it. What it does. What it eats. What eats it," says George Matsumoto, a jelly specialist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, who named the species.
"It's very large, it's a predator, and we assume that it must play an important role in the deep sea," says Matsumoto. It's also pretty common. It has been spotted more than two dozen times off the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
"When I first saw a picture of Big Red, it was just a matter of seconds before I realized that this was something very different," says Matsumoto. He and his colleagues have published their discovery and description of the new species online in the journal Marine Biology.
New Life Forms
In the last 20 years, using scuba, manned and unmanned submersibles, scientists have discovered more than 50 new species of jellies. Madin, an expert on jellies, has discovered more than half a dozen species.
When scientists discover a new life form they assign it a formal scientific name which describes how closely it is related to other creatures. Each name has seven components: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Kingdom is the broadest category; species is the most specific. Animals within each of these categories share certain characteristics. All domestic housecats, for example, are members of the same species. Lions and tigers each belong to different species, but share enough similarities that they belong to the same genus: Panthera.
But more differences imply that a new specimen may belong to a new category altogether.
For example, all cats—lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and housecats—belong to the family Felidae; all dogs belong to Canidae. Finding a new subfamily of jellyfish is like finding something as different as these two families are to each other.
"As you go up higher through the taxonomy, through the classification, it gets harder and harder to get new things," says Matsumoto. "(Big Red) is not only a new species but it represents a new genus and a new sub-family."
In the scientific literature Big Red is now known as Tiburonia granrojo. The genus Tiburonia is named for the remotely operated submersible, Tiburon, that captured Big Red on video in 1998. The name of the subfamily is Tiburoniinae.
Like a Human with Four Arms
The most obvious sign that Big Red was really new was that it lacked tentacles; whereas most jellies use a net of fine tentacles to catch their food.
Only about three species of jelly identified to date do without these appendages—these are wispy, very delicate creatures that are all closely related. By contrast, Big Red is robust.
The feature that researchers find most intriguing is a collection of short stumps protruding from Big Red's surface—so- called "oral arms" that might be used for feeding. What mystifies Matsumoto is why some of these jellies have four arms, whereas others have six or seven.
"It is like finding one human with four arms, another with three, and another with two," says Matsumoto.
The jelly first came to the attention of Matsumoto in 1998 when a geologist colleague showed him a video and photographs taken during an exploratory mission around the underwater Gumdrop seamount, northwest of Monterey and about 75 miles west of the San Francisco coastline. Going back through video footage from the institute the scientists found sightings of the creature dating back to 1993.
The video was taken by the remotely operated sub called Tiburon—vehicles of its type are now becoming the mainstay of underwater exploration.
But it was almost another three years before scientists could collect a specimen of the creature. Big Red is so large that Matsumoto and his colleagues have only found one specimen that was small enough to collect—a little jelly about six inches (15 centimeters) long.
Tracking Big Red
"It took us a very long time to get a specimen. We don't like to publish descriptions of new species unless we have something to give to a museum," says Matsumoto.
The specimen was caught literally in Matsumoto's backyard—the Monterey Submarine Canyon, which at 13,000 feet (4000 meters) is the deepest canyon on the West Coast.
The world of Big Red is cold and dark—all sightings to date have been between 2,100 and 4,900 feet (645 and 1,497 meters) where the water temperature hovers between a chilly 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (2.6 and 4.9 degrees Celsius).
At this depth the last rays of sunlight fail to penetrate the water and the only lights comes from life forms that produce twinkles and sparkles of primarily blue and green bioluminescence.
Much basic research remains to be done to solve mysteries surrounding the life of Big Red. How long do these jellies live? When and where do they feed?
Unlike many other jellyfish, which are transparent, the red pigment of this jelly prevents the researchers from peering into the creature's gut to see what it had for lunch.
"Other jellies have tentacles covered in stinging cells whereas this jelly must have very different feeding behavior
Post a Comment