Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sea Gooseberry videos
Preys-eye view of a sea gooseberry. Unlike sea anemones and jellyfish, which have stinging tentacles, those of sea gooseberries are sticky
Higher magnification movie of the propulsion system - hairs (cilia) that are fused into eight rows of saw-tooth combs. Each row can be stopped and started independently, giving very precise directional control. The beating combs create flickering interference colours.
Side view of a sea gooseberry swimming
The long, trailing tentacles dangle below the animal. Swimming into a swarm of sea gooseberries, some of which are large enough to catch small fish, would be a fatal mistake for any small planktonic animal.
These are some videos of the sea gooseberries that I caught yesterday and posted at http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.com/2009/09/sea-gooseberries.html
and
http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.com/
You can read more about these remarkable animals at http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/ctenophora.html
and
http://faculty.washington.edu/cemills/Ctenophores.html
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