The mouth-tube opens
under the body, as can be seen by turning the Jelly-fish on its back,
and moving the lobes of jelly aside. All the food goes up this
tube-mouth, and so into the stomach of the animal. The whole creature is
little more than so many cells of sea-water, the walls of the cells
being a very thin, transparent kind of skin.
Perhaps the strangest thing about it is the way in which it catches
prey. Jelly-fish feed on all kinds of tiny sea animals, such as baby
fish, and the young of crabs, shrimps, and prawns. These small creatures
form part of the usual dinner of many a hungry dweller in the sea, and
the Jelly-fish takes a share of them.
[Illustration: A MEDUSOID.]
From the edge of the "umbrella" there hangs a fringe of long, delicate
hairs, rather like spiders' threads. These are fishing lines, yet much
more deadly. They trail through the water, stretching far from the main
part of the Jelly-fish; and any small creature unlucky enough to touch
them is doomed.
Down each one of these threads there are minute cells, hundreds and
hundreds to every thread; and in each cell there is a dart, coiled up
like the spring of a watch.
Pages:
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75