2026-09-18 22:59 UTC
Check out this Jellyfish (Sea Nettle). The long, whispy parts hanging off the edge of the bell are tentacles, which contain stinging cells. And the long frilly part dangling from the center? They're "oral arms."
Oral arms also have stinging cells, but they hang from the mouth, transporting food (planktonic animals and tiny crustaceans) from the water column up into the jelly's mouth. Their frilliness increases surface area for filtering food from the water.
Some big jellies have looong tentacles. One lion's mane jelly was recorded at 120 feet in length 😱 That's as long as 3-4 school buses put end to end.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
#Monsterdon
Replies (2)
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@cherizilla@retro.pizza 2026-09-18 23:15
Side note, do NOT pee on a Jellyfish sting! It won't help and may make it hurt more. Ideally, rinse with vinegar to deactivate the stinging cells and pull out any stuck stingers with tweezers. In a pinch, rinse with seawater and use something flat like the edge of a plastic credit card to pull stingers out. Touching them with fingers can make inactive stingers 'go off' in a secondary explosion of ouch. Fresh water can also set them off. #Monsterdon
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@GPJohnston@mastodon.social 2026-09-19 13:33
@cherizilla@retro.pizza I can tell you the long red wispy parts are quite stingy, from having cleaned them from my fishing line many times while salmon fishing. 🥹