Скачать или смотреть The dinner plate jelly is one of the ocean’s top predators

The dinner plate jelly (Solmissus sp.) is one of the ocean’s top predators. This denizen of the deep has an appetite for other gelatinous animals. Jellies, comb jellies, siphonophores, salps—they are all on the menu for Solmissus. In fact, this jelly has one of the most diverse diets of all midwater animals—so far, we have seen Solmissus eating 21 different types of gelatinous prey.

A hungry dinner plate jelly swims with tentacles held forward. Most jellies are passive predators who drag wispy tentacles behind their bells to catch food that gets trapped in their wake. But the dinner plate jelly relies on stealth to capture food. Swimming with those tentacles out in front allows Solmissus to catch their prey by surprise. Before prey can sense the pulses of the approaching predator, the jelly’s crown of tentacles snares a meal. Forward-pointing tentacles also help the dinner plate jelly catch animals with long tentacles or skinny bodies, like raking up twigs in the lawn.

Using underwater robots, we can observe delicate deep-sea drifters without damaging them or disrupting their behaviors. We now know that jellies are some of the dominant predators in the ocean’s inky depths. They are also a food source for many animals and offer shelter in an endless expanse of open water.

Learn more about this and other fascinating animals of the deep: https://www.mbari.org/animal/dinner-p...

Script writer: Raúl Nava
Editor: Ted Blanco
Narrator: Giovanna Sainz
Motion graphics: Madeline Go
Production team: Larissa Lemon, Lila Luthy, Raúl Nava, Marike Pinsonneault, Giovanna Sainz, Kyra Schlining, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan von Thun, Kristine Walz
Music: Relaxinator by Jon Presstone

References:
Choy, C.A., S.H.D. Haddock, and B.H. Robison. 2017. Deep pelagic food web structure as revealed by in situ feeding observations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284(1868): 20172116. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2116

Raskoff, K.A. 2002. Foraging, prey capture, and gut contents of the mesopelagic narcomedusa Solmissus spp. (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Marine Biology, 141: 1099-1107. doi.org/10.1007/s00227-002-0912-8