Jellyfish Pictures!

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Jellyfish Pictures,

Jellyfish, simple organisms that inhabit every ocean on earth, are some of the most delicately beautiful animals alive. For this reason, underwater photography often produces a large amount of jellyfish pictures. Passive drifters feeding on zooplankton and small fish that get caught in their tentacles, jellyfish are comprised of ninety-five to ninety-nine percent water. Jellyfish capture their food by use of specialized stinging cells called cnidocytes that contain nematocysts, a kind of pressurized harpoon with a hook on the end. The nematocysts snare prey with these little harpoons and draw them inside their stomach cavity for digestion. Jellyfish are incredibly simple creatures: they do not have muscles, respiratory systems, or circulatory systems. The skin of a jellyfish is so thin that it can absorb oxygen from the water around it and can directly absorb nutrients from its food. Jellyfish have simple eyes called ocelli that can not form images but can detect light and move by use of a water pouch.

Our featured photographer, Mike Vietch, has a collection of jellyfish pictures from Jellyfish Lake in Palau. Jellyfish pictures from Palau reveal a specialized species found only in this place in the world. Years ago, this species inhabited this reef area for its abundance of food. When an underwater reef rose out of the ocean due to seismic activity, the jellyfish became trapped in this landlocked saltwater lake. Photographers from all over the world hike in to this lake in Palau to take pictures of this jellyfish that has, over time, evolved to their unique conditions. These Palau jellyfish have lost their cnidocytes and have developed eight sensitive ocelli. Living in symbiosis with a species of algae that actually inhabit the jellyfish’s cells, the daily cycle of this jellyfish revolves around growing and cultivating the algae. Twice a day the jellyfish school toward the surface so the algae can feed off the sunlight. At night they sink to the nitrogen rich bottom, also beneficial for the algae. The algae are the jellyfish’s only source of food and the only predator that threatens them are the anemones that inhabit the waters in and around Palau.

Veitch’s time in Palau has yielded a collection of jellyfish pictures that are stunning. The picture, Schooling Jellyfish, shows the species as it makes its daily commute to and from the surface to sustain their source of food. Veitch has even included a picture of the jellyfish and their enemy, the anemone, which has not lost its stinging cells. Probably the most intriguing jellyfish picture in the collection is that of the jellyfish photographed from below, looking up at the mangrove trees which grow around the lake in Palau. So take the time to view our images of this rare species in its natural habitat.


James Webb©2005