Jellyfish

When you think of a Jellyfish, you think of a fish-shaped creature made of jelly, right?  Well a jellyfish’s body is really shaped like a bell or umbrella filled with clear jelly material.  The mouth is located in the center of the underside.  Tentacles line the outside of the underside.  Many jellyfish have colorful internal organs, like pink and orange, which you can see through the clear bell. 

Jellyfish catch their food by stinging different organisms with their tentacles and then bring the food to the mouth with the tentacles.  Then the food goes to the stomach where it gets distributed through the rest of the body by radial canals.  Jellyfish move down and up by tightening and relaxing the bell using muscles in the bell.  They move side to side by the waves and currents. 

One type of jellyfish is the Portuguese Man Of War.  Most people think they are one animal but they aren’t.  They are a large colony of medusa-like and some polyp-like individuals.  The large sac that’s filled with gas acts like a float for them.  The tentacles can be 60 ft. (18 m.) long in the water and can cause serious injuries to swimmers.  The Man Of War is usually bright blue and sometimes has tints of pink and orange.