When MBARI celebrated their 20th birthday in 2007, they created a list of the top 20 most important accomplishments since their founding. The number ten accomplishment was discovering that one third of the oceanic biomass is made up of JELLY!!!!!!!!!! That’s right, gelatinous animals made up about 1/3 of the oceanic biomass in marine food webs!
The coolest part of that announcement; jelly-ish animals happen to be my favorite creatures in the whole world! To all of you who are laughing at that pronouncement, I’m sure that by the end of the blog you too will agree with me.
I’m sorry, I bet some of you have no idea what MBARI is. MBARI stands for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. It is a center dedicated to the research and preservation of the ocean. Research also involves discovering amazing new species!
“Every time we dive below 2,000 meters, we see species that are new to science” said MBARI researcher Steve Haddock. It would take a few years to tell you all of the new animals, so I’m only going to mention a few here. But if you want more information about MBARI and their wonderful accomplishments go to http://www.mbari.org, or if you specifically interested in jellies, check this page.
One of my favorite discoveries is a species of sea butterfly, like the one shown at the top of this blog. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? I bet you won’t believe that it’s related to a common garden snail! Some species even have a shell inside of them. Go to the MBARI website to see more jellies like red bulbous jellies, bumpy jellies and jellies that use glowing red lures to attract lunch. They are remarkable!
- Alexa Stefanko - 2008 Official Explorer
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