Cr ys t a l J e l l y f i sh
If you happen to meet a jellyfish while swimming in the ocean, it’s a good
idea to get out of the way! Jellyfish, which live in all the oceans of the
world, including the Arctic and the Southern Oceans, can sting an enemy or
surprise a visitor with a neurotoxin released by the stinging cells that cover
their tentacles. The most venomous jellyfish is the beautiful but deadly
Australian sea wasp. If an Australian sea wasp stings a human being,
that person can die in as few as three minutes if he or she doesn’t get help
immediately.
Some jellyfish have been observed at depths of more than 3,200 feet
(975 m) below the surface of the water, and many types have been around
since before the time of the dinosaurs. If all the water were squeezed out of
a jellyfish, you wouldn’t have much left over. A typical jellyfish is made up
In the bioluminescent crystal
jellyfish, the protein aequorin
makes blue light that is
then converted into green
light by green fluorescent
protein. This image shows a
microscopic view of some of
the jellyfish photoorgans that
emit the green light.
4 2 • B i o l u m i n e s c e n c e
