Friend of jellyfish?
At the end of a Gabriola summer, we often find dozens of jellyfish washed up, dead, on the beach. These are Lion’s Mane jellyfish — the kind you hope never to meet while you’re swimming in the sea.
They’re dead already when we find them on the rocks at Whalebone, right? So I took out my knife and sliced one open to see what the insides are like. (As one does.) Took some photos of sliced-up jellyfish, and then noticed this little guy in many of the photos later on. Who’s he, and what’s he doing there? Is he a parasite, a symbiotic companion, or what?
Filed in Gabriola Island,photos,sea creatures 4 Comments so far
4 Responses to “Friend of jellyfish?”
John Hudson on 05 Sep 2010 at 4:05 pm #
Oh. That’s Fred.
Andrea on 05 Sep 2010 at 4:06 pm #
He’s a hyperiid amphipod, a kind of small crustacean. Hyperiids live with/on jellyfish including lion’s mane (Cyanea capillata). There’s no benefit to the jellyfish so I guess you could consider them parasites. They either steal prey from the jellyfish’s tentacles or eat bits of the jellyfish itself. They don’t usually kill the jellyfish unless the hyperiid is large relative to the jellyfish, there are a lot of hyperiids, or there is a shortage of food for the jellyfish. Not very friendly behaviour, in any case.
Andrea on 06 Sep 2010 at 3:50 pm #
Oh, I forgot to say: my significant other and I really like the photograph.
Gabriolan on 06 Sep 2010 at 8:12 pm #
Andrea – thank you so much for the scientific details. This is fascinating. I’m glad you and your significant other like the photo.
John – ah, you’re always ready with the personal touch. Once again I am convinced that you know everybody.