14 hours ago by Sarah Curran-Ragan By incorporating large volumes of water into their bodies, jellyfish are able to grow to a size disproportionately larger than other animals relative to their carbon content. Credit: <\/p>\n
Jellyfish (Cnidarian medusa) have unique body plans that violate a universal law of biology and facilitate their longevity and their propensity to form blooms, according to an international study involving UWA scientists. <\/p>\n
Most physiological and ecological processes in animals relate to body size and such relationships, called allometrics, predict a broad range of functions in animals. <\/p>\n
However jellyfish, exhibit allometric differences that cannot be explained solely by their unusually high water and low carbon content. <\/p>\n
UWA Oceans Institute director and co-author Professor Carlos Duarte says, \"the differences provide insights into jellyfish's evolutionary and competitive advantages conferred by their unique body plans.\" <\/p>\n
He says the jellyfish's allometrics help to explain their tendency to form spectacular blooms. <\/p>\n
The study tested differences in allometric relationships for several key parameters: rates of respiration, excretion, longevity and swimming velocity, between jellyfish and other pelagic (open sea dwelling) animals. <\/p>\n
Jellyfish were 3.2 times larger than other pelagics of equivalent carbon content and 2.5 times larger than those of equivalent nitrogen content. <\/p>\n
Furthermore, respiration rates were 28 times slower, excretion rates 257 times slower and jellyfish grew 3.5 times faster than other similarly sized pelagic marine animals. <\/p>\n
\"The study highlights that gelatinous marine organisms differ from other marine organisms in fundamental ways,\" Prof Duarte says. <\/p>\n
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See original here: 14 hours ago by Sarah Curran-Ragan By incorporating large volumes of water into their bodies, jellyfish are able to grow to a size disproportionately larger than other animals relative to their carbon content. Continue reading
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