Gelatinous Animal Photographs
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| Few creatures
of the sea can rival the magnificent splendor of the disparate group of
creatures we call gelatinous zooplankton. The most familiar are the relatives of
corals and anemones known as jellyfish. The gelatinous lifestyle has been taken up
by representatives of a number of other phyla. These include the ctenophores (also
known as comb jellies), gelatinous molluscs (heteropods and pteropods) and pelagic
tunicates (salps, doliolids and pyrosomes). Although unrelated, representatives of
these groups share the property that when removed from the supportive aqueous environment,
they collapse into quivering blobs (it's hard to hold yourself together when you lack any
hard, rigid skeletal parts!).
Click on the groups above to view gelatinous zooplankton images. |
Visit the JelliesZone, home to gelatinous zooplankton of the West Coast