The Earth Story

jacintashackleton

A very narrow escape for two little fish! 🐟🐠 Hungry Green Sea turtles just love a tasty jellyfish when it’s available!🍽 Just another reminder to pick up any rubbish they could mistake for food 👍🏼.

lukesaddler

The lions's mane jellyfish, one of the most spectacular sights in Scottish waters. The huge bell and long tentacles pulse with colour and light, like some visitor from another world.

Joel Schat on Instagram: “Saw some jellyfish today 👻 🎶 diamond child - Aayushi”

natgeo

Video by Michaela Skovranova

@mishkusk

| A young Green Turtle is enjoying a jellyfish meal off the East Coast of Australia.

Juvenile green turtles are omnivores and will happily feed on almost anything, jellyfish included. As they grow older their diet tends to shift towards consuming seagrass and algae. Because sea turtles are reptiles, they are much less likely to suffer from the adverse effects of the jellyfish stinging cells. Unfortunately for turtles, it is often hard to distinguish a piece of floating plastic from a jellyfish. Research has shown that a turtle has a 22% chance of dying if it eats just one piece of plastic. Us humans have excellent opportunity to help - we can opt for plastic-free alternatives, shop consciously or even collect a few pieces of debris on our walk home. Drains and rivers lead to the ocean, therefore, no matter where in the world you are every little bit counts.

tomsunderwaterphotography Would you swim through this army of jellyfish? 🐙 

• natgeo Video by @joelsartore | During moonlit nights, off the coasts of southern Japan, Brazil and Argentina, you might get lucky enough to see a flower hat jelly like this one emit fluorescent lights from its tentacles. These invertebrates have no brain, heart or real eyes and yet, incredibly, they are predatory animals. To hunt, these jellies will hide amongst the seagrass, waiting for an unsuspecting fish to swim by. By stinging their prey with their venomous tentacles, they’re able to subdue it and will consume entire fish at a time. While a sting from this jelly will definitely hurt and likely leave a rash, it is not fatal to humans. This flower hat jelly was photographed at @AquariumPacific, where they are displayed under moonlight conditions to highlight their fluorescence. For a portrait of this beautiful jelly, follow @joelsartore.

natgeowild Video by @filipe_deandrade | While filming jaguars and olive ridley sea turtles in Costa Rica, I had to completely immerse myself in the lifecycle of both animals. Two iconic species revered and protected by the locals. Not a bad gig. Getting close to turtles on land is cake. I would just walk up to them, keep a respectable distance, wait for the females to start laying eggs and then roll camera. In the water though...totally different. Their lethargic demeanor on land washes away in the ocean. They can ghost you in an instant and getting close enough to give them a high 5 is out of the question. But this interaction was completely instigated by the turtle. I was dumbfounded when she swam right up to me and started to chomp on my camera housing. Then it hit me, she thinks my camera is a jellyfish. Sea turtles have specialized digestive tracks which keeps them safe against jellyfish toxins. How WILD is that? It also showed me how easy it is for this majestic creature to confuse something man-made with something natural. So don’t litter the oceans. 

theocean A marine biologist captured footage of a green sea turtle enjoying a stinging meal - a jellyfish. Jellyfish paralyze prey using neurotoxins in their tentacles, but the turtle does not seem to be affected. It closes its eyes and uses its flipper as a shield from the jellyfish’s stinging tentacles. Green sea turtles are endangered. Their main threat is overexploitation of eggs from the beaches they are laid on. Green sea turtles are predominately herbivorous, but juveniles have been known to feed on jellyfish.

natgeowild A marine biologist captured footage of a green sea turtle enjoying a stinging meal - a jellyfish. Jellyfish paralyze prey using neurotoxins in their tentacles, but the turtle does not seem to be affected. It closes its eyes and uses its flipper as a shield from the jellyfish’s stinging tentacles. Green sea turtles are endangered. Their main threat is overexploitation of eggs from the beaches they are laid on. Green sea turtles are predominately herbivorous, but juveniles have been known to feed on jellyfish.