#areyoureadyforthisjelly

This jelly’s crazy colors and far-out appearance clued scientists into a unique find. ✨

Of all the jellies that call the ocean’s midnight zone home, the psychedelic jelly (Crossota millsae) is one of the most stunning. Its wildly colorful appearance—ruby red, bright orange, and electric purple—first tipped off scientists that they had found a previously unknown species.

But a closer look offered scientists another surprise: This species is one of a handful of jellies that bear live young.

The female psychedelic jelly broods her babies on those crimson canals that radiate out inside her bell. Mom carries more than a single baby at once. Her babies can all be different sizes, indicating different stages of development. The developing young get their nutrition from mom. In their shelter beneath her bell, the little jellies grow bigger and bigger, even sprouting tentacles while still attached to their mother. When the juvenile jelly outgrows its shelter, it pulses free and swims off to live on its own. As the juvenile grows, its lavender color fades, developing the tangerine pigmentation typical of adults.

Meet one of the most colorful residents of the ocean’s midnight zone. ⁠✨

The remarkable coloration of the psychedelic jelly tipped off scientists that they had found a previously unknown species. It was named in honor of Claudia Mills for her dedication to studying the ocean’s delicate drifters.

While most jellyfish alternate between a swimming stage (the medusa) and an attached stage (the polyp or hydroid), Crossota jellies spend their entire lives in the water column between 1,000 to 4,000 meters (3,300 to over 13,000 feet) deep.

Unlike many jellies, we can see obvious differences between males and females. The eggs in the females are large and globular, while the male gonads are shaped like sausages. Crossota jellies reproduce sexually and give "birth" to live young. The baby medusae stay attached under the mother's bell until they are ready to launch.

Deep-sea daisy 🌼⁠

⁠The deep-sea crown jelly (Atolla sp.) is one of the most common jellies in the ocean’s depths. Most have a distinctive elongated tentacle that can be up to six times the diameter of the jelly’s bell. Scientists suspect that characteristic trailing tentacle helps this jelly capture food. As a hungry Atolla pulses along, that long tentacle snags crustaceans or other prey.⁠

⁠ But Atolla is not the only clever hunter in the deep sea. Predators lurk in the darkness, ready to pounce. The bright red bell helps keep Atolla hidden—in the deep sea, red appears black. If Atolla’s crimson camouflage does not work, this jelly sounds the alarm with pinwheels of brilliant blue bioluminescence. A burst of light in the dark water not only disorients predators but it also acts like a burglar alarm telling larger predators there is something interesting happening here. The threat of a bigger predator scares off any immediate danger, allowing the jelly to swim to safety.