{"id":44173,"date":"2015-06-11T17:57:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T21:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=44173"},"modified":"2015-06-11T17:58:40","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T21:58:40","slug":"box-jellyfish-actively-hunt-fish-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/box-jellyfish-actively-hunt-fish-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Jellyfish Actively Hunt Fish, Research Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the first research to investigate the feeding habits of Australia&#8217;s Irukandji box jellyfish (<em>Carukia barnesi<\/em>) has, interestingly, found that the jellies actively hunt fish &#8212; by utilizing twitching in their extended tentacles to move their nematocyst clusters (the parts that stings people\/animals) and using them as lures, according to the research.<\/p>\n<p>Considering that box jellies don&#8217;t have a centralized &#8220;brain&#8221; the fact that they are able to actively hunt is worth noting. Not surprising per se &#8212; as much research has shown that many organisms without centralized brains can still engage in complex behaviors &#8212; but interesting and worth noting nonetheless.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/129528687\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Irukandji fishing\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;This species is small, less than two centimeters (three-quarters of an inch) across the bell, they&#8217;re 96% water, they lack a defined brain or central nervous system, and yet they&#8217;re using their tentacles and nematocyst clusters like experienced fishers use their lines and lures,&#8221; stated lead author Robert Courtney.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re not opportunistically grazing &#8212; they&#8217;re deliberately <a href=\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/2015\/03\/15\/overfishing-in-south-africa-greatly-worsened-by-governement-corruption-research-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\">fishing<\/a>. They&#8217;re targeting and catching fish that are at times as big as they are, and are far more complex animals. This is a really neat animal that is displaying a surprisingly complex prey capture strategy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"ca-pub-6260354429531949\";\n\/* Nathan PS *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"2067312064\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 468;\ngoogle_ad_height = 60;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The findings are the result of researchers filming the <em>Carukia barnesi<\/em> through a full 24-hour cycle &#8212; while utilizing infrared-sensitive to allow activities occurring in pitch darkness to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We already knew what they ate, because gut contents analysis is pretty straightforward with an animal that&#8217;s transparent, but the fishing techniques we observed were a surprise,&#8221; commented senior researcher Associate Professor Jamie Seymour, from JCU&#8217;s Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During the night we saw they were less active and not fishing. They contract their tentacles down to 4 to 5 centimeters (approximately 1.5 to 2 inches) long, with the nematocyst clusters all bunched up. We believe they may do this to conserve energy when visually oriented prey such as larval fish may also be less active.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During daylight hours though, while fishing, the box jellies stretch out their tentacles by as much 1.2 meters (3&#8217;10&#8221;) &#8212; leaving the nematocyst clusters &#8220;evenly spaced along each almost-invisible thread, like a fishing line&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The nematocyst clusters look like a series of bright pearls, which the jellyfish twitches to attract the attention of its prey, like a series of fishing lures,&#8221; Mr Courtney noted. &#8220;It&#8217;s a very deliberate and selective form of prey capture.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After contact is made, paralyzation and death follow shortly thereafter of course.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a highly successful fishing strategy, and the only account of a box jellyfish using aggressive mimicry to capture prey.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of the first research to investigate the feeding habits of Australia&#8217;s Irukandji box jellyfish (Carukia barnesi) has, interestingly, found that the jellies actively hunt fish &#8212; by utilizing twitching in their extended tentacles to move their nematocyst clusters (the parts that stings people\/animals) and using them as lures, according to the research. Considering that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,38],"tags":[40723],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_edit_lock":["1434059922:118"],"_edit_last":["118"],"_wpas_done_all":["1"],"_oembed_f72acdf7d19af323fef3630d5d6ffa29":["<iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/129528687\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Irukandji fishing\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"],"_oembed_time_f72acdf7d19af323fef3630d5d6ffa29":["1434059827"],"_video_thumbnail":["http:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/box-jellyfish-actively-hunt-fish.jpg"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Box"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Box jellyfish actively hunt fish, research finds"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["80"],"omc_review_enable":["0"],"omc_user_ratings_visibility":["0"],"omc_review_type":["stars"],"omc_criteria_display":["n"],"omc_featured_post":["0"],"omc_comment_type":["wp"],"dsq_thread_id":["3841365377"],"_oembed_4b5bde3337420f22bd6f105b3c3417a2":["<iframe src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/129528687\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" title=\"Irukandji fishing\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe>"],"_oembed_time_4b5bde3337420f22bd6f105b3c3417a2":["1490987082"],"dpsp_networks_shares":["a:4:{s:8:\"facebook\";i:1;s:11:\"google-plus\";i:0;s:9:\"pinterest\";i:0;s:8:\"linkedin\";i:0;}"],"dpsp_networks_shares_total":["1"],"dpsp_networks_shares_last_updated":["1567125770"],"penci_post_views_count":["1977"],"penci_post_week_views_count":["9"],"penci_post_month_views_count":["35"],"_oembed_f7e3c1cd2f0cba8d63cfbb605a1dd417":["<iframe title=\"Irukandji fishing - TV NEWS\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/129528687?dnt=1&app_id=122963\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; 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by utilizing twitching in their extended tentacles to move their nematocyst clusters (the parts that stings people\/animals) and using them as lures, according to the research. Considering that&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}