ClassificationKingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria Class: Hydrozoa Order: Anthomedusae Family: Oceanidae Genus: Turritopsis Species: T. nutricula |
Physical CharacterisiticsThe T. nutricula adult medusa is about five millimeters tall and wide. As an adult the medusa has between eighty and ninety tentacles. As a juvenile, the medusa has only eight tentacles. They use these tentacles to filter particles out of the water and move them to their mouth.
The small size of these organisms may help them sustain their unique life cycle. Also due to their small size, they are considered plankton. They do not move much on their own accord, and are mainly moved from place to place by ocean currents. HabitatIt is beleived that this species originated in the carrabean sea. However, it has now spread across the globe. This spread was likely caused by ocean currents carrying them through the oceans. Their spread as also been helped by human traffic in the ocean. These little organisms are easily sucked up in the ballast water of ships. It was hard to track the spread of these creatures because of their inappreciable size. Scientist have sampled the genes from these jellyfish from all around the world, and have found that they are all extremely similar. Therefore, they are able to inhabit a wide range of environments without any physical changes.
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General Jellyfish Anatomy
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7. Ma H, Yang Y. Turritopsis nutricula. Nature and Science [Internet]. 2010 [cited 2013 April 28];8(2):15–20. Available from: http://www.sciencepub.net/nature/ns0802/ns0802.pdf#page=24
12. Than K. “Immortal” Jellyfish Swarm World’s Oceans. National Geographic [Internet]. 2009;(June 2008). Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jellyfish-swarm.html
7. Ma H, Yang Y. Turritopsis nutricula. Nature and Science [Internet]. 2010 [cited 2013 April 28];8(2):15–20. Available from: http://www.sciencepub.net/nature/ns0802/ns0802.pdf#page=24
12. Than K. “Immortal” Jellyfish Swarm World’s Oceans. National Geographic [Internet]. 2009;(June 2008). Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090130-immortal-jellyfish-swarm.html