9-24-11

Moon jellyfish were a common sight offshore St, Augustine Florida today. TISIRI Divers were conducting "Reefs Revealed" photography and video efforts at various artificial reefs and spotted these creatures at every dive location. See a few pictures of the interesting animals captured by TISIRI marine photographer Joe Kistel below..

Often times when TISIRI divers encounter large jellyfish, such as Moon jellies and other varieties, they are found accompanied by juvenile fish species traveling in or around the jellyfish bodies. Ironically, jellyfish generally capture and kill fish and other marine organisms with stinging nematocysts along their tentacles. It is thought that this predatory feature of the jellyfish is what the juvenile fish benefit from. Larger predatory fish may tend to stay away from the jellyfish because of the stinging possibility thus protecting the juvenile fish. At the same time the juvenile fish may benefit the jellyfish by attracting an occasional meal for the jellyfish. So how do the juvenile fish avoid harm from the jellyfish?