Building Bodies of Jelly - Jellyfish

The images of the jellyfish above were created in Pov-Ray and represent a 'typical' jellyfish. Of course there is really no such thing, jellyfish come in an incredible range of varieties and range in size from one centimetre or less in diameter, to over two metres in diameter and some, like the Lion Mane's jellyfish, may reach half a tonne in weight. Despite their beautiful and enchanting appearance, jellyfish are highly efficient predators. In the early oceans on the primordial Earth the jellyfish were the top predators, and even today they are vastly abundant and often swarm in thousands. To produce so much mass at such a prolific rate jellyfish must clearly be very efficient predators. The term 'jellyfish' is an imprecise term that refers to an enormous variety of creatures from those animal groups called the cnidarians (which includes corals and sea anemones) and the ctenophores (comb jellies). The jellyfish are those members of these two groups (which are sometimes collectively called the coelenterates) which swim or float freely. These include the medusas, like the one above, named after the Greek myth of a beautiful woman who was cursed by a jealous goddess and left with a hideous appearance and writhing serpents for hair - these serpents have been compared to the jellyfish's tentacles. They also include forms like the Portuguese Man O' War which consists of a colony of many individuals fused together into a single organism. This page deals mostly with the medusae, and specifically those that are most commonly found washed up on seashores - the scyphozoan medusae.

Jellyfish Anatomy
Look at the image above and the other viewpoints of the same model shown below (click on thumbnails to enlarge) and then look at the labelled diagram of a similar jellyfish, Aurelia, the Moon Jellyfish, and see if you can use this diagram to identify some of the labelled structures on our 3D model! Medusa: plan (exumbrella) view.

Medusa: underneath (subumbrella) view. Medusa: sideview. Medusa: sideview (same as main picture). A labelled diagram of Aurelia, the Moon Jelly, probably so-named both for its whitish disc-like body and its nocturnal habit of swimming near the surface of the sea. Identify as many of these labels as you can on the 3D jellyfish medusa model before we look at what these structures are and what they do. The main part of the medusa body is the bowl, dome, lantern, cuboidal, goblet, trumpet or discshaped bell or umbrella. The domed surface of the bell, which is topmost, is called the exumbrella, whilst the lower surface, which ofter curves inwards, is called the subumbrella. Contractions of the bell, cause it to pulse and expel jets of water from the cavity beneath the umbrella (the subumbrellar cavity) and these jets propel the jellyfish along. It is often said that jellyfish are weak swimmers and at the mercy of the tides and even that they can only swim upwards and sink downwards. However, much film footage clearly shows jellies swimming horizontally as well as vertically and many are strong swimmers, but not as strong as large fish and so they do sometimes get caught up in strong tidal currents, but they are better and more precise swimmers than most give them credit for. The bell contains a thick ring of strong muscle, called the coronal muscle, that generates most of the power. Other more complexly arranged muscles assist the coronal muscle. Hanging from the centre of the subumbrellar is a projection, called the manubrium, which bears the mouth at its terminus. The mouth is often surrounded by four oral arms, though these may be absent and sometimes number a multiple of four, such as 8, depending upon species. Hanging from the edge of the underside of the bell, are the tentacles. Some species lack the tentacles, some have hundreds of tentacles,

others only four tentacles, some species have very short tentacles (like Aurelia) others have tentacles many metres in length. How do jellyfish feed, grow and reproduce? How do jellyfish know which way is up? Where is the jelly?

Above: the jellyfish Cyanea. Note that the tentacles have been cut away from 4 of the 8 sectors for clarity. There are several species of Cyanea, Cyanea capillata is the lion-mane's jellyfish. There are 16 tentacles per cluster in this specimen, but there may be as many as 150 per cluster. The lion's-mane has 8 lobes and 8 rhopalia and the bell diameter may reach 2.5 metres! The colour varies from yellowish to deep red or reddish-purple. The tentacles of Cyanea can be up to 10 to 30 metres or more in length and are very sticky, and they can be fanned-out to form a massive fishing net that the jellyfish trawls through the water. Click the image to enlarge. Cyanea lamarckii is up to 15 cm or more in diameter (I once saw what was almost certainly a specimen of this jellyfish some two to three feet across) and in this species the 8 primary lobes are divided into pairs of secondary lobes which divide at the edge into pairs again, making a total of 32 lobes. Cyanea lamarckii is whitish-blue in colour (the specimen that I saw was a striking translucent sea-blue colour).

Where is the jelly?

The bell of the jellyfish is essentially two layers of cells, one on the outside surface, called the epidermis, and another which follows the lining of the subumbrella as it extends down the pendulous protuberance and enters the mouth, at which point the cell lining takes on different characteristics and is called the gastrodermis. This inner cell layer, or gastrodermis, continues to line the stomach. The stomach in Aurelia, and in our model jellyfish, is divided into a central chamber and four pouches coming off the sides. These pouches contain the gonads (reproductive organs that produce sperm and/or egg cells). The gonads are visible in our model as the four pinkish horseshoe shaped structures in the centre of the bell. Beneath these two layers of cells, the epidermis and the gastrodermis, the main bulk of the jellyfish is made up of a jelly-like substance called mesogloea. In some tiny jellyfish, the mesogloea may be little more than a thin sheet, but in large jellyfish it becomes a thick mass. Cells that develop from the epidermis and/or gastrodermis of the developing baby jellyfish, migrate into the jelly (especially in the larger types) and form muscle and nerve cells as well as wandering amoeboid cells, that resemble amoebae and wander around the body. Thus, the mature animal (especially in the larger jellyfish) contains more than simply two layers of cells!

Radial Symmetry and the number 4

Jellyfish of the medusa type we are considering here, have what we call radial symmetry - meaning they are essentially circular (or spherical). A human, on the other hand, has bilateral symmetry - meaning that your body is in two mirror halves and has a definite front end and back end. Jellyfish are also built on around the number 4, with most of their structures occuring either in 4s or in multiples of 4, such as 8 or 16 etc. Thus, tentacles may number 4, 8, 16, ..., to 8 x 40 = 320 or more. Our model has 4 gonads, 32 (8 x 4) lappets (the crinkly porojections along the bell margin), 4 oral arms, etc.

Knowing which way is up and where things are

The rhopalia (singular rhopalium) are the small pink structures, 8 in number in our model, which can be seen located around the bell margin at regular intervals, between lappets. These are sensors. Each rhopalium contains a gravity sensor, which allows the jellyfish to tell which way is up and which way down, and to know how much its body is tilted. These organs may also contain what look like olfactory (smell) sensors and in some species each rhopalium has a tiny eye. These eyes may be simple light

sensors, or they may be complex eyes equipped with a lens. Some jellyfish do not have eyes, but even these can detect light by other means. Scyphozoan jellyfish avoid bright sunlight, descend deeper into the water at midday and in darkness, but surface in the morning or late afternoon and during cloudy days. Thus, most jellyfish medusae prefer twilight or diffuse light, though some do prefer sunlight. Medusae also descend into the water during rough and stormy weather.

What no brain?
Jellyfish have no obvious brain, as a large mass of nerve cells, but they clearly possess sophisticated computers. What they do have is a marginal nerve ring (in most species) which connects to the rhopalia and little ganglia (dense balls of nerve cells) each associated with one rhopalium, and they also have a nerve net. The nerve net, or plexus, is a network of nerves that cover the subumbrella (and sometimes a nerve net or plexus that covers the exumbrella) just beneath the surface. These structures function as a sophisticated computer, not as complex or as sophisticated as the mammalian brain, but sufficient for the medusa's needs.

Common myth - jellyfish have no skeleton

Whilst it is true that jellyfish are soft to the touch and have no hard bony parts, they do have the mesogloea. Stiffening fibres traverse the jelly and in some jellyfish, the mesogloea can form hardened plates, rather like cartilage, that hinge together. These plates provide support for the animal and the muscles may attach to these plates, so they function as a skeleton. Obviously, the jellyfish skeleton of jelly, of more or less firmness, is not as hard as the mammalian bony skeleton, nor as hard as the cartilagenous skeleton that sharks have, but it is still a skeleton, albeit more or less soft, and is sufficient for the jellyfish which does not move the bulk of its body quickly in complex ways and can rely on the surrounding sea water to buoy up and support its body.

Making a living - the Jellyfish's Sting

The tentacles, and sometimes other surfaces of the jellyfish, are armed with stinging cells called nematocysts. These nematocysts are grouped into stinging batteries. each cell, when triggered by the touch of potential prey (or a predator), discharges a tiny thread which is a miniature harpoon that impails

the victim and injects venom. A prey item, such as a fish, will be injected with dozens of these harpoons. Other nematocysts discharge sticky threads to trap the prey.There are many different types of nematocyst found in the coelenterates, and which type or types an individual has depends upon species. Each tentacle can be moved by its own muscles, as can the oral arms. The tentacles and/or oral arms pass the captured food to the mouth. Once in the stomach, the food is digested into a broth within about six hours. This liquid is transported around the animal by the circulatory system. This consists of radial canals that radiate away from the stomach and then connect to the ring canal (if present) shown as a pink ring in the model, and then back to the stomach, with remaining waste being carried out through the mouth (jellyfish have no separate anus!). These canals together with the stomach (gastric cavity) form the gastroendodermal system. In some jellyfish the stomach gives off complex branching canals, in others just four straight radial canals are apparent. The gastrodermis lines these canals and each cell possesses a flagella, a long (but microscopic) whip-like structure that stirs up the water, creating specific currents that flow in the desired direction, transporting the broth around the body, along with sea water that enters through the stomach. This circulatory system probably also transports dissolved oxygen around the body and removes waste, including carbon dioxide. Aurelia feeds in a different way. Tiny planktonic creatures, including molluscs, crustaceans, eggs, minute worms and larvae, collect on the exumbrella surface, where they become trapped in mucus. Tiny beating hairs (cilia or flagella) carry the food-laden mucus to the edge of the bell, where it collects in eight masses (in the centre of the lappets) where it is licked off by the oral arms and carried by tiny hairs along a groove that runs along the inside of each arm, through the mouth and into the stomach. The food is partly digested by the stomach and then carried along 8 straight (ad)radial canals, along the ring canal, and back to the stomach along the branched radial canals. Outward currents generated by tiny beating hairs on the oral arms, carry the waste out through the mouth, as inward currents bring more food in. This is very efficient, for a single Aurelia medusa can clear the plankton from 700 ml of water in less than one hour and it doesn't have to do very much, just wait for the food to stick to its body as it swims past! Most jellyfish, however, are fierce hunters, trapping and eating animals as large as fish. The huge Lion Mane's jellyfish has a vast tangle of tentacles that sweep the oceans like fishing nets, spanning an

area the size of a tennis court. No wonder these Lion Mane's jellies often reach half a tonne in weight! In some jellyfish, the oral arms are highly branched feathery structures, whilst in others these arms fuse to form a conical structure, which may be truly massive in some jellyfish, and which contains hundreds of frilly mouths!

Reproduction - churning out new jellyfish

Most jellyfish are dioecious, meaning that individuals are either male or female, but some species are hermaphrodite (having both male and female gonads). Jellyfish typically ripen in spring and summer. The eggs develop either in the gonads, or in pockets on the oral arms (after being released from the gonads through the mouth) depending on species. Each egg produces a tiny larval creature, called a planula, which escapes and swims away with the help of tiny beating hairs that cover its surface. After a short planktonic existence, during which the planula may travel great distances, the planula attaches to a solid surface, such as a submerged rock, and develops into a small trumpet-shaped creature called a scyphistoma. The scyphistoma deveops tentacles around the mouth which is on its top (apical) surface. These tentacles catch tiny food items, with the help of nematocysts, and so the scyphistome eats and feeds, rather like an upside-down jellyfish stuck to the rock, but no more than a few centimetres long. The scyphistoma may bud-off new scyphistoma (asexual reproduction) but in winter or early spring, the scyphistomea starts to split up into a stack of discs, rather like a stack of plates, a process called strobilation. This stack of disks is called a strobila. One by one each disc detaches from the end of the strobila and become a tiny jellyfish, slightly different from the mature form, and called an ephyra. Each ephyra is only a few millimetres in diameter, but will feed and grow, and if it survives then it will become a mature jellyfish, possibly weighing as much as half a tonne. Scyphistomae may live for several years, strobilating each winter, and feeding each summer. In this way, each scyphistoma is like a jellyfish factory, churning out dozens of jellyfish! Note that the life-cycle of some jellyfish is very different from that just described, and indeed is unknown for many.

Where to see more jellyfish

It is impossible to do justice to the diversity, complexity and beauty of jellyfish in a couple of pages! However, a search on Google will reveal dozens of stunning photographs. One of the best accounts ever written about jellyfish, including many beautiful diagrams, is that given by Libbie Henrietta Hyman in her 1940 volume 1 of

The Invertebrates (unfortunately not in print at the moment!). Libbie Hyman was one of the greatest zoologists of all time and motivated by the sheer appreciation of the beauty of living things to produce one of the best series of zoology books ever written. The standard of this work is an example to all scientists and is one of the best scientific works ever produced. It is unfortunate that she never lived long enough to complete her review of the invertebrates, but then that's hardly surprising when one considers how many different types of invertebrate there are! There are more living wonders on Earth than any individual can ever live long enough to see, study and appreciate, but just to see some of these creatures is well worth the while! If you don't get the chance to travel and see these wonders or maybe you can't travel to see these wonders, there are a lot of ways to still see these creatures. Visit you local library or rent textbooks, or search the Web where there are lots of resources. One other way could be to check out your local aquarium.

Graphics illustrating the life-cycle of a typical jellyfish are coming soon...

Above and below: a Pov-Ray model of an ephyra larva of a jellyfish like the moon jellyfish. Click images to enlarge

Above: a strobila strobilating.

Back to jellyfish page one

livid and seemingly synthetic hue of burgundy or murex or midnight blue, it drifts in temperate seas as in irons, the ruffled float riffling in the breeze (First verse of a poem by George Bradley, entitled, 'Its Bladderlike Sail', Grand Street, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Summer, 1985), pp. 109-110). These creatures belong to the Coelenterates and are commonly referred to as jellyfish, along with the scyphozoa, or jellyfish proper. (Zoologists frequently only consider the medusae of the scyphozoa as 'jellyfish' though the term is commonly used in a broader sense, and why not? 'Jellyfish' is after all a descriptive term and not a precise scientific term, much as the word 'worm' can be applied to a wide range of creatures, including certain vertebrates). The group of coelenterates to which Physalis belongs is a remarkable group called the siphonophores. Like scyphozoa (e.g. the Moon jellyfish) the siphonophores originally had a life-cycle involving an alternation of generations between sessile non-sexual polyps and free-swimming sexual medusae. However, the life-cycle in siphonophores is radically altered. Siphonophores grow from single floating polyps which multiply asexually by budding, but with the progeny remaining physically and intimately connected to one-another to form a single composite or colonial organism. In the Portuguese Man-of-War the float is a single individual, called the pneumatophore, and each tentacle is an individual - the long fishing tentacles are called dactylozoids and function only to capture food and defend the colony - being incapable of feeding themselves, as is the float. The tentacles hang down from half of the float, along with the shorter feeding polyps called gastrozoids. Each gastrozoid has a mouth and a short tentacle and feeds the colony (some later lose their mouth and develop into long dactylozoids). Also in the colony are short gonozoids which bear numerous spheroidal female gonophores and male gonophores - the gonophores are the sexual 'organs' and are really modified medusae that remain attached to the colony and are incapable of swimming. Odd gelatinous zooids may also be present, which resemble simple gelatinous projections. The various zooids originated from a single individual and continue to bud or branch from zooids growing beneath the float, with the zooids grouped in bunched called cormidia (singular cormidium). The tentacles cluster on one-side of the float, either the left side or the right side. Thus, some individuals have their tentacles on the left and sail on the right (so-called right-handed individuals) and these sail on the port tack. Other individuals have their tentacles on the right and sail on the left (left-handed individuals) and these sail on the starboard tack (1). The gastrovascular systems of all the individuals are interconnected, so that food consumed by the gastrozoids may be shared by all. (Remember that in coelenterates the circulatory system is part of the gut or stomach and forms the gastrovascular cavity). What we see here is a division of labour - the pneumatophore gives the colony buoyancy, the dactyloxoids catch food and defend the colony and the gastrozoids ingest food and the gonozoids function in reproduction.

Behaviour

The sail can be collapsed and erected as required and the float deflated or inflated. The float may deflate, for example, in stormy weather, whilst the tentacles retract and then spread out near the surface to increase stability. The float may also deflate in excess sunshine, to prevent it from drying up. Dipping (2) is a behaviour frequently seen, in which the sail collapses and the float is turned to one side and dipped in the water to wet it. This behaviour increases with wind speed and in a sense prevents the float from drying up. However, strictly speaking the floats do not dry as such, but as water evaporates from the windward side, salt from the water is deposited on the surface and this salt will draw out water by osmosis. To prevent this, the sail dips in order to wash off the salt (indeed, spraying on salty water triggers the response so the deposition of salt on the float/sail is the critical signal). The float then rights itself and the sail re-inflates. The sail has partial chitinous partitions within it, to give it rigidity when inflated. The float is usually said to contain a mixture of gases similar in composition to air, though with less oxygen, however, studies have shown that a variable amount of the toxic gas carbon monoxide is also present, sometimes accounting for 35% of the gas (3). This carbon monoxide is secreted by a gland (the pneumadena), comprising a single layer of cells, in the base of the float. The float is a double-walled chamber. The outer wall is called the pneumatocodon and the inner wall the pneumatosaccus and in between the two is the gastrovascular cavity of the float. The float also possesses muscle fibres to control its volume and shape and to perform behaviours such as dipping. Most siphonophores have a different arrangement of polyps. The polyps bud from a long stalk that hangs in the water (this stalk is essentially compressed to a disc in Physalia) and there may or may not be a float and instead swimming medusae, still attached to the colony, provide propulsion. Some forms have both a float and swimming medusae. The epidermis of siphonophores, which connects all the individuals, can conduct electrical signals (in the absence of nerves) and acts as a neuroid system. Physalia, the Portuguese Man-of-War (Portuguese Man o' War or bluebottle), is found in all oceans, but prefers the warmer waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. It has a remarkable float, usually bluish (sometimes violet) in colour and typically up to 30 cm long or more. The float and its crest or sail can be seen above the water with the long tentacles trailing beneath the water's surface. Two species are actually recognised, Physalis physalis or Portuguese Man o' War and the smaller Physalis utriculus or Pacific Man o' War (though probably both are commonly referred to as Portuguese Man o' War). These creatures float on the waters, sailing by means of the collapsible crest or sail (which seems very variable in size judging from various photographs) dragging their fishing tentacles through the water. The tentacles are armed with stinging nematocysts and the venom of the larger species, Physalia physalis, can be lethal to humans. The tentacles typically reach up to 10 m to 30 m in length, though there are reports of tentacles growing up to 50 m. References

1.

Hydrodynamics of sailing of the Portuguese man-of-war Physalia physalis; G. Iosilevskii and D. Weihs; J. R. Soc. Interface, 2008.

2. 3.

4.

Note concerning Physalia behaviour at sea; A.H. Woodcock; J. R. Soc. Interface, 2008. Fine Structures of the Carbon Monoxide Secreting Tissue in the Float of Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis L.); D.E. Copeland; Biological Bulletin, Vol. 135, No. 3 (Dec., 1968), pp. 486-500 . Colonies of colonies in Physalia; P.F.S. Cornelius; In Biology and systematics of Colonial organisms, G. Larwood and B.R. rosen (eds) 1979; Academic Press.

External link: siphonophore photos, including a very good photo of Physalia: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cdunn/siphonophores.html Left: a 3D computer model (approximate) of Physalia.

Above: Physalia floating on the water's surface. Physalia have proven difficult to keep in aquaria as they typically degenerate after a day or two in captivity. It has been suggested that the long tentacles touching the bottom of the tank may trigger this degeneration. It is suggested that tanks should be at least 50 feet deep and have fans positioned so as to blow the Physalia and keep it in the centre of the tank.

Jelly Creatures - Siphonophores

Reproduction
The gonophores shed their egg and sperm into the sea where fertilisation takes place. The resultant larva develops into a juvenile colony with a single gastrozoid and one tentacle. More zooids are added by budding. At all stages of the life cycle the organism is pelagic and never settles on the bottom to live a sessile existence.

Swarming
Physalia is at the mercy of the winds and sometimes entire swarms are blown onto shore. The fact that some have their sails arrange to tack to the left and some to tack to the right, means that prevailing winds will be unable to drive the whole population ashore! Winds can also funnel Physalia into tight-packed swarms on the ocean's surface that sometimes extend for hundreds of kilometres. Such aggregation might facilitate fertilisation of the gametes shed into the water, but must also create tight competition for food and have significant effects on the local populations of fish and crustaceans in the surface waters. Do Physalia attack and attempt to sting each other in these aggregates or are they peaceful affairs? A jellyfish-like creature generated from computer code in Pov-Ray. (Click link to learn how to make models like this).

Velella (By-the-wind Sailor)

This creature was once classed as a siphonophore, but is now usually placed in a separate group. It resembles a siphonophore with a disc-shaped coenosarc up to 7 or 8 cm across. The coenosarc is filled with branching channels (presumably filled with water below and air above) that are lined by photosynthetic zooxanthellae (microscopic algae) which tap the energy of sunlight to make food for themselves and their coelenterate host. Above this structure is the float, with chitin reinforced walls, which contains concentric air-filled rings called air tubes. Each air tube opens to the air via two air pores on top of the float. On top of the float is a chitinous triangular sail. In plan view the creature is somewhat oval, but wider at one end and angular to form a rounded-rhomboid shape. The tentacles of the creature are vividly coloured blue or purple and hang-down beneath the float. There is an outer-ring of fishing tentacles (dactylozooids) armed with nematocyst batteries and

several inner rings of gastrozooids and mouth-bearing gonozooids bearing gonophore buds. The medusa of Velella is about 3 mm in size and is free-swimming and has four-radial symmetry. In the centre, hanging beneath the float is the large central gastrozooid, with its large mouth. Eight radial canals connect the stomach of the gastrozooid with a ring canal in the periphery of the disc. The sail is angled with respects to the long-axis of the elliptical/rhomboidal float. The sail is designed to impart stability, and has a low centre of wind-pressure, making it less likely to topple the animal, and indeed at wind speeds up to 20 knots the animal is stable, but wind speeds of 40 knots can cause it to flip over end-over-end. The animal cannot right itself, though it can tense its muscles, so as to facilitate righting by wave action. If trapped upside-down, the animal starts to degenerate after a few hours.

Above: a computer model of a siphonophore, similar to Agalma. In this type of siphonophore the zooids bud from a long stalk or

coenosarc, which in some forms, like Physalia, is reduced to a flattened disc. There are various types of zooid, each specialised to perform a particular function. At the top is the first zooid to form, which in this case acts as a float (and is probably a modified medusa). Below this are swimming zooids or nectophores which pulse, jetting out water, in much the same way that free-living medusae do. There are six nectophores in this model. Below this is a pair of narrow tubular tentaculozooids, each armed with a single tentacle and several tubular feeding gastrozooids, each again armed by a tentacle and equipped with a mouth. These tentacles will be equipped with clusters or batteries of cells called nematocytes. Each nematocyte contains an organelle called a nematocyst. The nematocyst is a vessel containing a much coiled microscopic 'harpoon', generally poisonous (though in some coelenterates some nematocysts may simply be sticky) which discharges under pressure. In those forms in which the nematocyst harpoons can pierce human skin, the injected venom will cause the jelly's sting. leaf-like zooids called bracts are also present. A bunch of male gonophores can be seen toward the top, with their spermatocyte cargo depicted in yellow, and a bunch of female gonophores lower down, with their eggs shown in red. The gonophores are modified sexual medusae that remain attached in most forms, although some types have freeswimming medusae (sometimes only the female medusae) which do not feed, but degenerate after shedding their gametes. The gametes are shed into the sea and after fertilisation they give rise to ciliated planula larvae which develop into a new primary zooid which produces a new colony by asexual budding. Siphonophores come in a fantastic diversity of forms and many are bioluminescent. They are extraordinary creatures in which incomplete asexual reproduction by budding gives rise to an integrated colony in which all the zooids remain connected via gastrovascular canals that ultimately connect to the stomachs of the feeding gastrozooids. Velella was once regarded as a colony of zooids, but is now often seen as an individual with several mouths, on account that it seems to have a single integrated nervous system. The question remains as to whether it is an individual that resembles a colony or a colony that has involved into an individual. Evolution often produces more complex organisms by repeating modules. For example, plants are modular organisms and some plants can reproduce in this way, such as the crack willow tree which sheds twigs and branches which can establish and become new individuals. Some marine worms reproduce asexually by budding off new individuals at the rear, but in some forms the new individuals do not readily separate and the chain of individuals function as an individual. Taken to its conclusion this process possibly gave rise to the segments that make up the body of an earthworm, a fish and a mammal such as the human being. Each segment retains its ancestral nervous system, albeit in modified form, with the ganglia alongside the spinal cord in humans being vestiges of each segments original 'brain'. In Velella we see another example of how modules, perhaps originally individuals in their own right, can become so well integrated as to form the organs of a new modular organism. This is a familiar pattern in evolution the replication of units, followed by their modification to produce new parts and new complexity.

Marrus orthocanna

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cdunn/assets/images/2729.jpg

Forskalia sp.

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cdunn/assets/images/6049.jpg

Athorybia rosacea

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~cdunn/assets/images/0767.jpg

Casey Dunn
HOME / PHOTOGRAPH INDEX

Siphonophores

Marrus orthocanna

Forskalia sp.

Agalma okeni

Stephanomia amphitridis

Nanomia cara

Apolemia sp.

Physalia physalis

Athorybia rosacea

Abylopsis tetragona