Our love for the ocean runs deep. ❤️

Bloody-belly comb jellies are ctenophores. Like other comb jellies they navigate through the water by beating their shimmering hair like cilia. The sparkling display we see in this video clip comes from light diffracting from these tiny transparent cilia.

At the depths where this comb jelly lives it’s nearly invisible to predators and prey because the color red appears black and allows the animal to blend into the dark background. These twilight zone treasures are found in the North Pacific Ocean and measure about 6 inches across. You can see one for yourself on display @montereybayaquarium .

Creature Awaits #230

Each week I plan to feature an amazing creature, admiring God's fantastic artistry. Hopefully it’ll brighten someone’s day to see something new and interesting if they haven’t seen it before. : )

Continuing our October series.. "Cute…but Deadly" : )

(An awesome capture by Eric Polk (CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed))

The Bloody-belly Comb Jelly

Scientific Name: Lampocteis cruentiventer

Region: The Northern Pacific Ocean, usually between about 820'-4,921' (~250m-1,500m) deep

Size: About 6" (~16cm) long

Interesting Notes: As a comb jelly, this bizarrely beautiful creature doesn't move like a true jellyfish, but propels itself by rhythmically waving rows of hair-like cilia. Being totally translucent, its stomach's deep red color - one of the hardest colors to see at this ocean depth - stealthily keeps predators from spotting any bioluminescent meals still digesting within its stomach. Like its fellow comb jellies, instead of stinging its prey, it produces an extremely sticky, glue-like substance that holds its prey captive as it's slowly dragged into its mouth.

THE FINALE.

Behold the brilliant bloody-belly comb jelly! While you might think this scarlet sensation stands out in the deep sea, it actually blends in beautifully. Red is the first wavelength of light absorbed as you descend into the depths of the ocean, so crimson-colored animals appear black, making them virtually invisible in the darkness of the deep sea. It’s a super-stealthy way to avoid becoming somebody’s snack. 

So next time you’re “seeing red,” think of how useful that would be when catching a meal in the deep.

earth fact time. meet the bloody-belly comb jelly, quite possibly the coolest fucking jellyfish i've ever seen. they're deep-sea jellyfish, and can be many different red shades, but their stomachs are always blood red - hence the name. and they sparkle because of light reflecting off teeny tiny little hairs called cilia!

monterey bay aquarium | mbari

This is peak animal design btw (pics by me at the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

[Image ID: Photograph of a bloody belly comb jelly against a dark blue - almost black - background /End ID]

these are some of my favorite animals ever. yes, they really are that red

The Mermay Mood is “on one hand I want to draw mermaids” but “on the other hand the guy who created the Mermay hashtag came to my school to give a talk on The Amazingness of NFTs, and when I questioned him about the negative effects of NFTs he refused to answer me and called me a Hater” so I’m not quite sure what to do about it. :P

the fact that this is real

shoutout to my bestie bloody belly comb jelly <3 

Blood-belly comb jelly my beloved ❤️ 🩸

Meet Lampocteis cruentiventer, the bloodybelly comb jelly. This deep sea ctenophore was first collected in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, in 1979.

Scientists believe the bloody-belly's red belly helps mask bioluminescent light from the prey it consumes. A predator with a glowing gut could easily become prey.

The genus name Lampocteis derives from the Greek roots for “brilliant comb,” referring to the bright iridescence diffracted from the animal’s comb rows.

Love to sea it 🌊

Trick or treat!

You get:

A bloody-belly comb jelly!

What's not to love about the bloody-belly comb jelly?

Its crimson colors and dazzling diffraction have us swooning all year long. 😍😍😍

🎥: Deepest thanks to our research partners @mbari_news for the deep-sea footage!

Monterey Bay Aquarium Ctenophores

Hey! Sorry I've been absent - I did a fairly last minute 40-50 hour roundtrip drive to California the past week to go see family (and the @montereybayaquarium ctenophores). I've been wanting to go see the bloody belly comb jellies since the Into the Deep exhibit first opened and I was so excited to finally get down there. I'll be sharing more videos soon, just wanted to let people know I'm back <3

I tried to include at least a little clip of each cteno species they had on display but some came out better than others. I also think I missed getting a clip of Bolinopsis.

Video ID: no audio. A series of ctenophores, starting with the red heart shaped bloody belly comb jelly with flashing rainbow ctenes, with a closeup of the auricles and ctene rows. Another comb jelly, I think maybe Eurhamphea vexilligera, has long narrow auricles tucked into its body and big points near its aboral end. A long pink narrow Beroe abyssicola with a dark stomach swoops through the frame. Leucothea pulchra, the beautiful sea goddess comb jelly, swims in bright blue water. It is covered in golden finger-like protrusions. Another beautiful sea goddess waves its long auricles, and then a third splays its lobes while swimming. Many Homiphora swim and cast out their fishing tentacles. Finally we see a few more shots of the bloody belly comb jellies.