What do jellyfish eat?
Asked by
mark (
225)
December 17th, 2008
from IM
I’m wondering what jellyfish eat… or if they eat?
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7 Answers
i had some noodles today, and a nice yoghurt desert, yum yum yum
Jelly donuts, jelly rolls, jello, Roly-Poly. (Their favorite music is “It must be jelly ‘cause jam don’t shake like that.” Glenn Miller.
It really depends on the size and type of said jellyfish. Most jellies will eat zooplankton(artemia, krill, mysis) and small fish. Larger jellies will obviously eat bigger fish as well as some inverts like shrimp.
Some jellyfish however like the upside down jellyfish have zooxanthellae living inside of them. Zooxanthellae is a type of algae that is in many corals as well that shares a symbiotic relationship with its host. Its given a safe place to go and in return, it feeds the host with the extra zooxanthellae it produces. So upside down jellies produce their own food. (though they still catch passing zooplankton with their tentacles)
Different species will have different diets. Some actively hunt small fish while others are filter feeders, catching particulate matter in the water (aka Marine Snow), or those in between, ones which feed on plankton, rotifers, etc. Basically the same as corals in general, which Jellyfish are.
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