Is the fried egg jellyfish actually poisonous after it stings you?
The fried egg jellyfish is a marine organism of the class Scyphozoa, order Rhizostomeae, also known as the poached egg jellyfish, boiled egg jellyfish, Mediterranean jellyfish, etc. Because structures such as the gonads or other gastric pouches in its body are colored, a golden-red or orange-red raised center appears within its transparent body, making it look just like a freshly fried poached egg. Now let us take a look together at whether the fried egg jellyfish is poisonous when it stings!
Is the fried egg jellyfish poisonous when it stings?
The fried egg jellyfish is poisonous when it stings. The Mediterranean is the most common sea area for the fried egg jellyfish, and it is a very common venomous jellyfish there. Although it is not as venomous as the Portuguese man o' war, locals all keep far away when they see the fried egg jellyfish; after all, being touched by its tentacles is no joke. The weapon of the fried egg jellyfish is its harpoon-like tentacles. When it touches prey, it shoots out the venom from the nematocysts on the tentacles. In addition, compared with other dangerous relatives, the fried egg jellyfish is relatively safer and is almost not dangerous to humans.
What food does the fried egg jellyfish eat?
The fried egg jellyfish is a carnivorous animal that feeds on small crustaceans, plankton, etc. In fact, it is also a type of suspension feeder, using its tentacles to filter tiny plankton from the water, sending them through the oral arm grooves by ciliary action into the mouth and gastrovascular cavity. The nematocysts on the gastric filaments kill the captured prey, and then the gland cells on the gastric filaments secrete digestive enzymes to digest the food. The digested nutrients rely on the beating of cilia on the walls of the circular canals to push the nutrients from the gastrovascular cavity through the radial canals into the ring canal, and then through the primary radial canals, interradial canals, gastrovascular cavity and mouth to expel undigested food residues from the body.
What are the most venomous jellyfish?
1. Box jellyfish: Each tentacle of the box jellyfish has enough toxin to kill 50 people and can stop a person's heart and lung function within 3 minutes. Since 1884, at least 5,567 people have died from this animal, and the mortality rate it causes is even higher than that of snakes, sharks and saltwater crocodiles.
2. Portuguese man o' war: In the Portuguese man o' war, it is the tiny nematocysts in the tentacles that secrete the lethal toxin. Although the toxin secreted by a single nematocyst is negligible, the potency of the toxin accumulated by thousands upon thousands of nematocysts is no less than that of any venomous snake in the world today.
3. Sand jellyfish: The adult sand jellyfish has an umbrella diameter of 25 to 60 cm, with a maximum of nearly 1 m. The outer umbrella surface is smooth, and the mesoglea is thick and hard. Its nematocysts are highly venomous. After a human is stung, the skin becomes red and swollen, with pain and itching; in severe cases, shock and even death may occur.
4. Lion's mane jellyfish: The lion's mane jellyfish is an organism that can cause human death, but it rarely moves in places where humans come and go. The nematocysts on its tentacles contain toxic needles and capsules filled with venom. When the venom enters the human body, it rapidly causes paralysis and death.