Jellyfish

in a

Why Does Ice

jar
Did you know? Floating Jellies
Float in Jellyfish are closely Jellyfish are plantonic: that
means they aren’t very strong
Water? related to anemones and
swimmers on their own, and so
Water is made up coral! They are all part of
they rely on the currents to
of two hydrogen the phylum Cnidaria. take them places. Sometimes
molecules, and one Anemones are like upside- this can cause large numbers
oxygen molecule down, stationary jellyfish! of jellyfish to congregate in
(that’s why it’s one area because they were
called H2O!) When all pulled in by the current.
water freezes, the These gatherings are usually
molecules spread called blooms, and can result
out, making ice in thousands of jellyfish
being beached.
less dense so that
it can float on
top of water,
despite having the
same mass.

How do Jellyfish Sting?

Some people thing jellyfish stings are an electric
shock, but that’s not true! Jellyfish actually have
millions of tiny stinging cells on their tentacles with
structures called nematocysts inside. These tiny
threads are ejected out to sting the jellyfish’s prey,
and usually they inject toxin into their victim. Most References
jellyfish don’t have strong enough nematocysts to sting o http://sciencelearn.o
humans, but the ones that do can be really dangerous. rg.nz/Contexts/Icy-
Always be careful in areas where jellyfish are common! Ecosystems/Science-
Ideas-and-
Ocean Density Concepts/Water-
Ocean water is denser than fresh water because of density
the salt. The salt dissolves in water and sticks to o http://www.jellywatch
the water molecules, so the water is denser and .org/blooms/facts
takes longer to freeze. The amount of salt in water
is called salinity. This is also why it’s easier to
float in the ocean, or other salty bodies of water!