If you ’ve ever been swimming in the ocean and suddenly find yourself being stung all over , the identity of your assaulter may have finally been discover . Patches of " prick water " have long mazed scientists , but the culprit has been unveil thanks to a study published in the journalCommunications Biology , which find a metal money of jellyfish that ’s been releasing gelatinous balls of sting cells into the ocean . Rude .
The upside - down jellyfish , Cassiopea , has long been forefend by season swimmers who were cognisant that swim near them was a defective idea . Many report a stinging star followed by innervation even when the jelly were a considerable distance off , but before now scientists had been unable to go out why .
A team led by investigator at the Smithsonian ’s National Museum of Natural History , the University of Kansas , and the US Naval Research Laboratory have been working together to crack the mystery for years . It all began when Cheryl Ames , museum research comrade and associate professor at Tohoku University , talked with her colleagues about the discomfort they had all experienced firsthand after swimming near upside - down jellyfish . However , they were n’t sure the " edged water " in reality had anything to do with the jellyfish , as existing explanation blamed the champion on discerp jellyfish tentacles , anemone , and “ sea louse ” .
The first clue thatCassiopeawas to blame come when the team observe that the jellyfish in the museum ’s aquarium - elbow room tanks released cloud of mucus when they were fed or agitated . microscopical probe of the mucus give away it contained pocket-size jolting ball that were spinning around in the fluid . Using advanced imagery methods , they discovered these blob were vacuous sector with an outer layer of stinging cells known as nematocysts . The blob also had cilia – small hair - comparable filaments – which pulsed , enabling them to move around the mucus . They called these mucous secretion - gyrating ball of stinging cellular telephone ( as if they take a good name ? ) cassiosomes .
build up with this knowledge , they take another feel at the upside - down man-of-war and found cassiosomes were clustered into spoon - like structures on the jellies ’ arms , which would shed when the creatures were agitated . These cassiosomes would slough off gradually until thousands were mixed within the animal ’s mucus and shed into the body of water . These stinging grenades were found to be efficient killers of brine shrimp , who would yield promptly to the venomous spheres as seen in the video above .
" This discovery was both a surprisal and a long - awaited resolution to the mystery of prick water , " said Ames in astatement . " We can now let swimmers know that sting pee is due to upside - down jellyfish , despite their general reputation as a mild stinger . "
The precise intent of these gelatinous weapons is not yet known , but Ames hypothesizes that it could be a secondary author of nutrient for the jellyfish , which are known to survive off the photosynthesizing algae that know inside them . By keeping incapacitated quarry close at hired man , the jellyfish can guarantee a reliable reservoir of intellectual nourishment in all conditions . before long after their uncovering , the squad identified four other closely related species of man-of-war that also bring on cassiosomes and are now keen to explore if other marine life history is also pack these gooey balls of pain .
call up these mucus ball are scarey ? Wait till you see about theterrifying sperm of box jellyfish .
