I am Jolene the Jellyfish and I have been called many names. From Lion’s mane to arctic red, to hair jelly, but my favorite is the Giant Jellyfish. Mainly because it makes me feel important. I like the cold, only the cold, so I live in the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans. The largest of my kind that humans have ever encountered was 7 feet and its tentacles were around 120 feet long. That’s pretty large, if you ask me. I am a bit of a show off, with my tentacles and that is where the lion’s mane idea came from. I am an orangey color right now, but I have been told that when I become a full adult I will have a dark red color to my skin. Not sure, but I used to be colorless all together, but over the weeks my color has turned to this orangey state. Have to admit that I kinda like it. Not that I am looking at myself in one of those looking glasses I see all the time, but I do look good, if I say so myself.
My head, or bell as you call it, is divided into eight star like lobes, which contain my tentacles. Each one contains 70 to 150 of them. I have these broad frilly oral arms that extend from my mouth and will sting, so be careful. You truly don’t want to get stung by any of my kind. It is extremely painful for you.
Some of my tentacles are extremely sticky and they have stinging cells on them as well, so getting away when I am upset with something isn’t the easiest thing for them to do. Due to these tentacles, along with all the others that I am sporting, I am actually one of the longest creatures in the animal kingdom. Simply means that I make a statement when I move. Love that.
I am not good with warmer waters, as I said before. Due to the fact that I only live for 1 year, which is kind of a bummer, I tend to settle in shallow, sheltered bays toward the end of my life span, but I am not there yet. Thus I live in the open ocean, acting as a floating oases, or life boat, for may different species such as shrimp, medusafish, butterfish, harvestfish, and juvenile prowfish. So that keeps me very near the surface at no more than 66 feet depth. I am not a fast swimmer, but rather use ocean currents to travel great distances. I also rarely travel in packs, more of a loner than anything. (That’s because many of my kind are Karens. They just get pissy at anything and sting, sting, sting. Not what I call enjoyable banter.)
As I said before, be careful of my tentacles as they do sting. I am no direct threat to a human as they cause temporary pain and localized redness, but should you be stung by many of my tentacles or many of my kind, go directly to the hospital and get straight out of the water. You don’t know if you are allergic to my sting and you don’t know if something else my trigger an effect. Even if one of my brethren are dead in the water, don’t touch them as those tentacles are still active and can hurt you. We don’t do it on purpose, but it can still be a “stinging” affair. (See what I did there. )
Well, that is all about me for now, just know that we live in the oceans and that we are very cool to look at, but don’t touch. If you are swimming and see us in the water, best bet is to get out or get away because we don’t always realize that our hugs are painful. Also, if you see any seabirds, ocean sunfish or sea turtles, go ahead and get them away from us. Not so much for their kinds. Well, have a great day and enjoy your swim. (Thanks for listening, it gets kinda lonely out here.)
