#The upside down jellyfish has a reportedly mild sting but depending on the person something as bad as a poison-ivy like rash could develop | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

donuts4evry1 · 1 year

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turns out one of my friends is afraid of jellyfish so i'm trying to help xem out a bit, do you have any suggestions on cute + harmless jellies i could show xyr? other than the obvious moon jelly lol

in lieu of me not being on my laptop right now, I've compiled a list of harmless looking jellies in nonthreatening positions to help you and your friend on your journey :)

The first types of jellies I'd like to recommend are Rhizostomeae jellyfish, which have relatively mild stings and short oral arms, absent of long tentacles, and thus look nonthreatening (though I'd recommend showing shots of them from the side- Rhizostomeae means "many mouths" and they can look kind of scary from a bottom view)

Here are some examples!

From top to bottom:

Cauliflower Jellyfish (Cephea cephea), Fried egg jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata), and Cabbagehead jellyfish (Stomopolus melagidaris)

We also have the famous Palau jelly (Mastigias Papua), which is even more nonthreatening and cute thanks to their mild stings, if any, and the yellow zooxanthellae that lines their body, giving them food

At the end of the Rhizostomeae category we have the Upside down jelly (Cassiopeia sp.) and this specific picture of the Flame jellyfish (Rhophilema esculentum)

I suggest showing xem exclusively side views of these jellies, as a full view of their oral arms is probably a little freaky, ehe...

The flame jellyfish usually only looks pretty scary but this particular one (paired with the caption "Orphan no parents") makes me pity it quite a bit, lol

I'm going in assuming that your friend is scared of most "conventional types of jellyfish", so I'll stay away from Sea Nettles and Lions manes (they do have numerous, long, and painful tentacles anyway)

Comb jellies (specifically the Lobed and Beroe varieties) are also a great option, granted you don't tell xem the creepier parts of them. Comb jellies are also aggressive proponents of queer rights, constantly displaying the rainbow with the movement of their cilia and many being simultaneous hermaphrodites (or male and female at the same time). These guys just don't do gender.

They also have no nematocysts, instead trapping prey with "sticky trap" cells, as Lisa-Ann Gershwin likes to call them.

Now for the final stretch, I'll show you some Hydroazoan jellies (categorized by the numerous peripheral tentacles on their bell, much like a moon jellyfish). They can vary on how scary they look, so I'll just put the nonscary images I have readily available to myself

Here, we have the freshwater/peach blossom jellyfish, found pretty much worldwide, and the snow globe jellyfish (a picture I took myself at the monterey bay Aquarium ehe 😎).

I think they're just cute, haha.

One last jellyfish for the road:

This one's a screenshot because the phone I took it on doesn't save files as png or jpg for some reason?? Whack. Anyway this is a juvenile purple spotted jelly (Chrysaora colorata), classified by the darker spots, small oral arms, and a lack of peripheral tentacles. It's just,,, a lil baby... I love it.

alright, I think that's all I have for now, but I'd like to add some words of my own ehe:

Jellyfish are, regrettably, creatures that aren't often conventionally attractive. Their movements may be rhythmic and hypnotic, but some are off put by the tentacles and their toxicity. I compiled the list with criterium such as "short tentacles" or "small body" but the reality is that the term encompasses an extremely diverse group of animals, and they can be quite freaky or scary.

I don't blame your friend for xyr fear. Jellyfish can be dangerous, and touching them is never recommended (unless you're me, bc you know most of the venomous jellies already lol /j). In that sense I kinda feel a kinship with them, since I don't really like being touched either (sometimes I wish I had deadly venom to prevent other people from making unwantef contact with me ehehe). Anyway, these are definitely species that are a "look, but don't touch" kinda deal.

Still, even just a surface dive in jellyfish lore (ugh, can't believe I'm saying that) makes you step foot into a surprisingly interesting and foreign world. Invertebrates are infinitely interesting, and jellyfish, being one of the oldest, are sure to reveal hidden powers and abilities that one would not even be capable of fathoming.

The optimistic side of me hopes that your friend overcomes xyr fear of jellyfish, but at the very least, I hope that xey can learn to be comfortable with the idea of jellyfish, haha.

#It's a bit difficult to compile a list without knowing exactly what your friend finds scary about jellyfish but hopefully this list helps!#These jellies all have varying levels of toxicity btw but the ones that are not harmful are the hydrozoans I've talked about and the comb-#-jellies #The upside down jellyfish has a reportedly mild sting but depending on the person something as bad as a poison-ivy like rash could develop #Same goes with the Papua jelly - but only slightly #Apparently the cauliflower jelly and Cabbagehead jellyfish don't have a terribly painful sting but they can pack a punch as well #Uh anyway #Hope you found this helpful :). I enjoyed talking about jellyfish #ask #mun rambles #jellyfish

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