Surge Jelly
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- Surge jelly (tentatively Staurobrachia capacitor). Large, complex jelly that hunts with electric shocks.
- 1. Single animal
- Unlike colonial organisms such as the Portuguese man'o'war, the surge jelly is a single animal with specialized tissues - far more specialized and complex than Earth jellies. Proposed class name: staurobrachia (pole arms).
- 2. Complex internal structure
- Outer bell ringed with sense organs called rhopalia. A nerve net coordinates the bell's motions to swim and seek prey. The visible inner structure is the gut.
- 3. Feeding structure
- The jelly retains its stalk - a remnant of its growth in a stack of clones. The stalk draws in nutrients for the gut.
- 4. Charged fins
- Two rigid fins contain wirelike electrocytes, likely a development of ancestral tentacles. These organs build voltage to stun or kill prey. Measured power ranges from 400 to 1000 volts at 1 ampere: enough to kill a human.
- 5. Peculiar passengers
- Traces of radioactivity, high-temperature waxes and sulfuric acid imply contact with a hydrothermal vent. Composition of the jelly's tissues suggest origins in the deep ocean.
- 6. Former domestics?
- Jellies in close proximity communicate through their electric fields. Whether jellies have individual names or a grammatical language is purely speculative, but some patterns may be trained or learned - even passed down through generations of jellies.
- Assessment: minor danger in close contact. Fascinating research prospect from a distance.
On the wiki
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