![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/upside-down-jellyfish.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Image: Wikipedia<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n Most people know not to poke a jellyfish, but some jellies can sting you without touching you \u2013 by detaching tiny bits of their body that float off into the sea and move around independently.<\/p>\n Upside-down jellyfish jettison small balls of stinging cells in a network of\u00a0sticky mucus<\/a>, to kill prey such as shrimp. The jellies then seem to suck in their dinner by pulsating.<\/p>\n It is as if we could spit out our teeth and they killed things for us somehow, says Cheryl Ames at Tohoku University in Japan. \u201cIt\u2019s a real evolutionary novelty.\u201d …<\/p>\n …\u00a0Ames\u2019s group has found that this happens because the creatures shed hollow balls of stinging cells up to half a millimetre wide. Dubbed cassiosomes, they carry hairs that can waft them around in circles to boost their chances of bumping into prey. [<\/em>NewScientist<\/strong><\/a> (22 February 2020)]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And, as much as I admire evolution’s cleverness, I’m also a little creeped out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This jellyfish seems unique to me: Most people know not to poke a jellyfish, but some jellies can sting you without touching you \u2013 by detaching tiny bits of their body that float off into the sea and move around independently. Upside-down jellyfish jettison small balls of stinging cells in \u2026 Continue reading