Pelagia noctiluca nematocysts

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Pau
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Pelagia noctiluca nematocysts

Post by Pau »

Pelagia noctiluca is a very common bitting jellyfish. Not very dangerous but really painful. Often its blooms arrive to the western Mediterranean sea beaches ruining the bath.

I captured one and after a two hours travel to home it survived but feeling less active. Next day it was almost disintegrated, the jar was a mess of gelatinous parts. Drops of it showed lots of nematocysts of two (three?) types, bot fired and unfired.

Sorry for the mess in the pictures, they don't look very nice but I think the subject is interesting enough for posting.
All done with a NPL Fluotar 40/0.70 with DIC

Stack, pretty difficult to do because movements at the sample and high contrast at the main subject. B&W converted
Image

Single shot
Image

The big nematocysts filaments are really long. I was unable to take a decent picture of the tip
Image[/i]
Pau

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Fascinating!! :smt023
Chris R

JH
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Post by JH »

Thanks!
Very interesting.
Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

carlos.uruguay
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Post by carlos.uruguay »

Very interesting!

CEN
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Post by CEN »

Ok, it is an European jellyfish.

Once I met a jellyfish in Brasil. They called it just "Agua viva". The Boy at the beach told me that I "pode matar" with this jellyfish. I guess it was a "Caravela" (Physalia physalis). It was a lot of pain thus I first thought I was hit by a stingray......

Feliz ano novo

Christian

Pau
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Post by Pau »

Pelagia nocitluca is not only European, it's an almost cosmopolitan specie.

Physalia, not a true medusa but a colony, is really dangerous, sometimes deadly. Fortunately it doesn't live at the Mediterranean although sometimes it arrives to the sud west from the Atlantic. I've seen it several times at Canary Islands and Portugal, never had the honor to meet it so directly.
Pau

CEN
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Post by CEN »

A year after my close encounter with an atlantic jellyfish, I saw hundreds or thousands of Physalia arriving at a beach in Bahia / Brasil and the people step on the alluvials to burst their airbags.

Nobody cares, not even the "Lifeguard"..........

I refused there to take any step into the water....

Regards

Christian

KurtM
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Post by KurtM »

Fantastic! As a sea kayak instructor I have been stung by jellyfish more times than I can count -- very fascinating to see the mechanism of delivery!
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

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