Weird and Wonderful The bloodybelly comb jelly a deepsea fireball

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=6luG9mDaGgw

This sparkling, deep-sea fireball is the comb jelly Lampocteis cruentiventer. MBARI scientists helped to describe this genus and species using ROV video footage. The name means “brilliant comb jelly with a blood-red belly.” • All comb jellies, or ctenophores, have eight rows of hair-like cilia, called ctenes, used for swimming and eating. White light from the ROV is diffracted by these beating comb rows producing a rainbow display. Extra-broad, highly iridescent ctene plates make this animal especially bright. • Lampocteis can vary from transparent to amber to deep red, but its belly is always blood-red to mask the glow of any bioluminescent prey items it eats. Red wavelengths are absorbed quickly in the ocean, so red coloration helps deep-sea animals camouflage in the depths where they appear black and disappear into the darkness. Comb jellies are a significant component of the midwater food web. • Learn more about this mesmerizing deep-sea jelly: https://www.mbari.org/bloody-belly-co... • Common name: Bloody-belly comb jelly • Scientific name: Lampocteis cruentiventer • Reported depth range: 300 meters–1,012 meters (980–3,320 feet) • Size: to 16 centimeters (6 inches) • Editor: Ted Blanco • Writer: Kyra Schlining • Production team: Kyra Schlining, Susan von Thun, Nancy Jacobsen Stout • Publication: • Harbison, G. Richard, Matsumoto, George I., Robison, Bruce H., (2001). Lampocteis cruentiventer gen. nov., sp. nov.: A new mesopelagic lobate ctenophore, representing the type of a new family (Class Tentaculata, Order Lobata, Family Lampoctenidae, fam. nov.). Bulletin of Marine Science, 68: 299-311. • • Follow MBARI on social media: • Facebook: / mbarinews • Twitter: / mbari_news • Instagram: / mbari_news • Tumblr: / mbari-blog • LinkdIn: / monterey-bay-aquarium-research-institute-m...

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