The largest species among jellyfish is the cyanea. These jellyfish reach their largest sizes in the cold waters of the northern seas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. That's why they are also called giant arctic jellyfish.



The largest specimen is an Arctic jellyfish, washed ashore in Massachusetts Bay in 1870. The diameter of its dome was about 2.3 meters, and the length of the tentacles reached 36.5 meters. It turned out to be longer than the blue whale, which is considered the largest animal on the planet.


Now this jellyfish, but of a smaller size, can be found in the warmer waters of New Zealand and Australia. “Southern” specimens grow in dome diameter up to approximately 50 cm, and “northern” ones can reach 2 meters. The sticky thread-like tentacles of the jellyfish are collected in 8 groups, each of which contains from 65 to 150 tentacles.


The color of a jellyfish depends on its size. Small individuals are flesh-colored or soft orange, while large ones are bright pink or purple.


Purple giant arctic jellyfish

On the tentacles, like most jellyfish, there are stinging cells with strong poison. For humans, it does not pose a mortal danger, but the burn from the tentacles can be very painful. But the poison calmly kills small animals and fish. Over the entire period of its life, a giant Arctic jellyfish can eat about 15 thousand fish.


Poisonous tentacles of a jellyfish

The process of their reproduction makes you rack your brain a little. These jellyfish reproduce both normally sexually and asexually, like polyps. Cyana males release sperm through their mouth. Then the nimble sperm penetrate into special chambers located in the females’ oral lobes, where fertilization of the eggs and their further development occur.


After maturation, the larvae leave the capsules and go free swimming for several days. Along the way, they attach to various corals and turn into single polyps, which then begin to feed intensively and increase in size. After ripening, the next stage of reproduction occurs - budding. The formation of jellyfish larvae begins. This is how small jellyfish are born, which then turn into giant Arctic jellyfish.

Since September 2008, an invasion of giant jellyfish has been observed off the coast of Honshu. They poisoned all the fish that were caught in the net. As a result, Japanese fishermen suffered heavy financial losses.

But not everyone knows that there are creatures larger than them in size - this is an ocean inhabitant cyanea jellyfish.

Description and appearance of cyanea

Arctic cyanea belongs to the species of scyphoid, order of discomeduses. Translated from Latin, jellyfish cyanea means blue hair. They are divided into two types: Japanese and blue cyanide.

This is the largest in the whole world, size cyanea Just giant. On average, the size of a cyanea bell is 30-80 cm. But the largest recorded specimens measured 2.3 meters in dome diameter and 36.5 meters in length. The huge body is 94% water.

The color of this jellyfish depends on its age - the older the animal, the more colorful and brighter the dome and tentacles. Young specimens are mainly yellow and orange in color; with age they turn red, brown, and violet shades appear. In adult jellyfish, the dome turns yellow in the middle and turns red at the edges. The tentacles also become different colors.

Pictured is a giant cyanea

The bell is divided into segments, 8 in total. The body shape is hemispherical. The segments are separated by visually beautiful cutouts, at the base of which are located the organs of vision and balance, smell and light receptors, hidden in rhopalia (marginal bodies).

The tentacles are collected in eight bundles, each of which consists of 60-130 long processes. Each tentacle is equipped with nematocysts. In total, there are about one and a half thousand tentacles that form such a thick “hair” that cyanide called " hairy"or "lion's mane". If you look at photo of cyanea, then it is not difficult to see the obvious similarities.

In the middle of the dome is a mouth, around which hang red-crimson mouth lobes. The digestive system involves the presence of radial canals that branch from the stomach to the marginal and oral parts of the dome.

In the photo, the Arctic jellyfish cyanea

Concerning dangers cyanea for a person, there is no need to worry too much here. This beauty can only sting you, no stronger than a nettle. There can be no talk of any deaths; at most, burns will provoke an allergic reaction. Although, large contact areas will still lead to strong unpleasant sensations.

Cyanea habitat

The cyanea jellyfish lives only in the cold waters of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans. Found in the Baltic and North Seas. Many jellyfish live on the east coast of Great Britain.

Large accumulations were observed off the coast of Norway. The warm Black and Azov seas are not suitable for it, like all the waters of the southern hemisphere. They live no lower than 42⁰ northern latitude.

Moreover, the harsh climate only benefits these jellyfish - the largest individuals live in the coldest waters. This animal is also found off the coast of Australia, sometimes it reaches temperate latitudes, but does not take root there and grows no more than 0.5 meters in diameter.

Jellyfish rarely swim to the shore. They live in the water column, swimming there at a depth of about 20 meters, surrendering to the will of the current and lazily moving their tentacles. Such a large mass of tangled, slightly stinging tentacles becomes home to small fish and invertebrates that accompany the jellyfish, finding protection and food under its dome.

Cyanea lifestyle

As befits a jellyfish, cyanea It is not distinguished by sudden movements - it simply swims with the flow, occasionally contracting its dome and flapping its tentacles. Despite this passive behavior, cyanea is quite fast for jellyfish - it is able to swim several kilometers in an hour. Most often, this jellyfish can be seen drifting on the surface of the water with its tentacles spread out, which form a whole net for catching prey.

Predatory animals themselves are, in turn, objects of hunting. Birds, large fish, jellyfish and sea turtles feed on them. During the medusoid cycle, Cyanea lives in the water column, and when it was still a polyp, it lives at the bottom, attached to the bottom substrate.

Cyaneea also called blue-green algae. This is a very ancient group of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, including about 2000 species. They have nothing to do with jellyfish.

Nutrition

Cyanea is a predator, and quite a voracious one at that. It feeds on zooplankton, small fish, crustaceans, scallops, and smaller jellyfish. In hungry years, it can go without food for a long time, but in such times it often engages in cannibalism.

Floating on the surface cyanea looks like a bunch algae, to which the fish swim. But as soon as the prey touches its tentacles, the jellyfish sharply releases a portion of poison through the stinging cells, wraps itself around the prey and moves it towards the mouth.

The poison is released over the entire surface and length of the tentacle; the paralyzed victim becomes lunch for the predator. But still, the basis of the diet is plankton, the diversity of which the cold waters of the oceans can boast of.

Cyaneans often gather to hunt in large groups. They spread their long tentacles across the water, thus forming a dense and large living network.

When a dozen adults gather to hunt, they control hundreds of meters of water surface with their tentacles. It is difficult for prey to slip through these paralyzing nets undetected.

Reproduction and lifespan

The change of generations in the life cycle of cyanea allows it to reproduce in various ways: sexual and asexual. These animals are of different sexes, males and females, perform their functions in reproduction.

Different-sex individuals of cyanea differ in the contents of special gastric chambers - males have sperm in these chambers, and females have eggs. Males release sperm into the external environment through the oral cavity, while females have brood chambers located in the oral lobes.

Sperm enters these chambers, fertilizes the eggs, and further development occurs there. The hatched planulae emerge and float in the water column for several days. They then attach to the bottom and turn into a polyp.

This scyphistoma actively feeds and grows for several months. Later, such an organism can reproduce by budding. Daughter polyps are separated from the main one.

In the spring, the polyps divide in half and from them ethers are formed - jellyfish larvae. The “babies” look like small eight-pointed stars without tentacles. Gradually these babies grow and become real jellyfish.

The largest jellyfish in the world is the Arctic cyanide. This is a very interesting inhabitant of sea waters in its lifestyle and structure. Lives in cold areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where conditions are extremely harsh. It lives in the upper layers of water at a depth of no more than 20 meters. It stays in open waters and moves with sea currents. It rarely approaches the coastline.

The coloring of this jellyfish is remarkable. In young individuals it is much brighter than in mature ones. Common colors are dirty orange, purple and brown. At the same time, the upper part of the dome is mostly yellow. The oral lobes are red-crimson. The tentacles located along the edges of the dome have purple and pink shades.

The dome has a hemispherical shape. Its edges are blades. There are 16 of them. Rhopalia are located between the blades. They contain organs of balance (statocysts), nerve centers and eyes. The tentacles are long, they are collected in bunches and are located behind the concave side of the dome. And in its central lower part there is a mouth opening. It is surrounded by oral lobes. Outwardly, they resemble a hanging curtain.

The tentacles at the edges of the dome are extremely long and resemble hair. They can reach 20-30 meters. Thanks to them, this sea creature has another name - hairy cyanide. In the largest specimens, the dome reaches 2 meters in diameter, but usually does not exceed 50-60 cm. The largest recorded specimen had a tentacle length of 36.5 meters, and the diameter of its dome was 2.3 meters. So we can say with confidence that the Arctic cyanide is the largest jellyfish in the world.

The representative of the order of disc jellyfish that we are considering is an active predator. Its diet consists of plankton, crustaceans and small fish. If there is little food, then this inhabitant of cold waters begins to attack other jellyfish and eat them.

Foraging for food is as follows: a sea giant hovers in the upper layer of water with tentacles directed in different directions. From the outside, the jellyfish resembles a large lump of algae floating harmlessly in the ocean. As soon as a passing victim touches the tentacle, it immediately wraps itself around its body and infects it with paralyzing poison. After the prey stops fluttering, it is eaten. Paralyzing poison is produced in the tentacles along their entire length.

But the ocean is the ocean, and therefore any predator can become prey for another, larger predator. Therefore, hairy cyanide is eaten by other jellyfish, sea turtles, birds and large fish. It should be said that even the largest specimens do not pose a danger to humans. The worst thing that can happen when you come into contact with a huge jellyfish is that a rash appears at the site of contact. But it immediately disappears after using antiallergic drugs. The rash usually appears in people with sensitive skin, while others do not notice anything at all.

The reproductive process of Arctic cyanides consists of 2 stages. At the first stage, males release sperm into the water. They end up in the females’ mouth lobes, where the brood chambers are located. There, fertilization of eggs and their development occurs.

At the second stage, the formed embryos (planula larvae) leave the brood chambers, attach to some substrate and transform into one polyp. Over the course of several months, it actively grows and reproduces asexually, giving birth to a scyphist. From them the larvae of future jellyfish - ethers - are formed. Externally, they look like transparent stars with 8 rays. These stars float in the water and gradually become jellyfish.

This is the complex process of reproduction that nature came up with. And as a result, the Arctic cyanea is born - the largest jellyfish in the world. It moves in the upper water column along with cold sea currents and is an integral part of the northern waters of the World Ocean.

The largest jellyfish in the entire world's oceans, the Arctic cyanea (lat. Cyanea capillata) gained wide popularity thanks to the story “The Lion's Mane” by Arthur Conan Doyle, which told about the painful death of one of the heroes caused by an encounter with the Arctic cyanea.

In fact, rumors about its mortal danger to humans are too exaggerated. Arctic cyanea not only cannot cause death, but is not even capable of causing any serious damage to human health. The worst consequences of contact with this jellyfish are an itchy rash and, in some cases, an allergic reaction. All this can be successfully treated with compresses with vinegar.

However, Arctic cyanides are very interesting sea creatures. Let's start with the fact that cyanea live in extremely harsh climatic conditions. They can be found in the waters of the Arctic Ocean and the northern Pacific Ocean during the coldest winter months. They rarely fall below forty-second degrees north latitude and are completely absent from the waters of the southern hemisphere.

Arctic cyanides can reach truly enormous sizes. These are not only the largest of all jellyfish, but also the largest animals in the world. The diameter of one of the jellyfish, found in 1870 off the coast of Massachusetts, exceeded two meters, and the length of the tentacles reached thirty-six meters. It is believed that the cyanea bell can grow up to two and a half meters in diameter, and the tentacles can grow up to forty-five meters in length. This is much larger than the blue whale, the largest animal on the planet.

The further north the Arctic cyanide lives, the larger it is. The most impressive sizes are those of jellyfish that live in the coldest areas of the Arctic Ocean. As they approach warmer waters, the size of Arctic cyanides decreases: the smallest jellyfish are found between forty and forty-second degrees north latitude.

Typically, the diameter of the Arctic cyanide bell does not exceed two and a half meters. The length of the tentacles of these Arctic jellyfish also changes depending on the temperature of their habitat, and the color depends on the size. The largest specimens impress with rich crimson-red tones, while smaller ones are characterized by shades of pink, orange or light brown.

The body of the Arctic cyanide is a bell with blades along the edges, shaped like a hemisphere. Long tentacles, collected in eight bundles, are attached to the inner part of the blades. Each such bundle grows from sixty to one hundred and thirty tentacles. In the center of the bell there is a mouth opening, surrounded by long oral lobes, with the help of which the arctic cyanea moves the caught prey towards the mouth, connected to the stomach.

Like most jellyfish, the arctic cyanide is a voracious predator, feeding on zooplankton, small fish and ctenophores. She does not deny herself the pleasure of feasting on her relatives, such as, for example, the long-eared aurelia. In turn, Arctic cyanides are desirable prey for seabirds, large fish, sea turtles and other jellyfish.

A similar photo is often found on the Internet and the caption under it says that this is the largest jellyfish in the world. The jellyfish is called the arctic cyanea (cyanea hairy or lion's mane), and its tentacles can reach 37 meters in length. In general, this deep monster looks really scary, but is it really that huge? This post will help us understand this.

In general, the title photo from the series is something like this:

So what's really in the photo? You may be surprised, but the photo shows a real Arctic cyanide. And she really is the largest jellyfish in the world. True, the diameter of its dome reaches a maximum of 2 meters and it looks something like this:

The largest jellyfish reached 36.5 meters, and the diameter of the “cap” was 2.3 meters.

There is a difference, isn't there?

Let's find out a little more about this jellyfish.

Cyanos is translated from Latin as blue, and capillus - hair or capillary, i.e. literally a blue-haired jellyfish. This is a representative of the scyphoid jellyfish of the order Discomedusae. Cyanea exists in several types. Their number is a subject of dispute between scientists, however, two more varieties are currently distinguished - blue (or blue) cyanea (suapea lamarckii) and Japanese cyanea (suapea capillata nozakii). These relatives of the giant “lion’s mane” are significantly smaller in size.

Giant cyanea is a resident of cold and moderately cold waters. It is also found off the coast of Australia, but is most numerous in the northern seas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as in the open waters of the Arctic seas. It is here, in the northern latitudes, that it reaches record sizes. Cyanea does not take root in warm seas, and even if it penetrates into milder climatic zones, it does not grow more than half a meter in diameter.
In 1865, a huge jellyfish with a dome diameter of 2.29 meters and a length of tentacles reaching 37 meters was thrown onto the shore of Massachusetts Bay (the North Atlantic coast of the United States). This is the largest specimen of giant cyanide, the measurement of which is documented.

The body of cyanea has a variety of colors, with a predominance of red and brown tones. In adult specimens, the upper part of the dome is yellowish and its edges are red. The oral lobes are crimson-red, the marginal tentacles are light, pink and purple. Juveniles are much brighter in color.
Cyans have many extremely sticky tentacles. All of them are grouped into 8 groups. Each group contains 65-150 tentacles inside, arranged in a row. The dome of the jellyfish is also divided into 8 parts, giving it the appearance of an eight-pointed star.

Cyanea capillata jellyfish are both male and female. During fertilization, cyanea males release mature sperm into the water through their mouths, from where they penetrate into the brood chambers located in the females' oral lobes, where fertilization of the eggs and their development occur. Next, the planula larvae leave the brood chambers and swim in the water column for several days.

Having attached to the substrate, the larva transforms into a single polyp - a scyphistoma, which actively feeds, increases in size and can reproduce asexually, budding from itself daughter scyphists.

In the spring, the process of transverse division of the scyphistoma begins - strobilation and the larvae of ethereal jellyfish are formed. They look like transparent stars with eight rays, they do not have marginal tentacles or mouth lobes. The ethers break away from the scyphistoma and float away, and by mid-summer they gradually turn into jellyfish.

Most of the time, cyanea hover in the surface layer of water, periodically contracting the dome and flapping its edge blades. At the same time, the tentacles of the jellyfish are straightened and extended to their full length, forming a dense trapping network under the dome. Cyaneas are predators. Long, numerous tentacles are densely packed with stinging cells. When they are fired, a strong poison penetrates the victim's body, killing small animals and causing significant damage to larger ones. Cyanides prey on various planktonic organisms, including other jellyfish, and sometimes small fish that stick to the tentacles.

Although Arctic cyanea is poisonous to humans, its poison is not so powerful as to lead to death, although one case of death from the poison of this jellyfish has been recorded in the world. It can cause an allergic reaction and possibly a skin rash. And at the point where the jellyfish’s tentacles touch the skin, a person can get a burn and subsequent redness of the skin, which goes away over time.