Truk Lagoon Critter?

[tswinner]

I don't know what it is but it has an eye.
About the size of a quarter.

Thanks,

Todd

Todd_Winner_Truk-1207.jpg

(44.42 KiB) Downloaded 12 times

[Leslie Harris]

Great photo! The thing with the eye is a shrimp which was bent into a U-shape when it was engulfed by the ctenophore which surrounds it. The shrimp was probably translucent/transparent in life but turned white as it died. You can see 6 of the 8 rows of reflective cilia - called comb plates - that give this phylum the name Ctenophora. They used to be grouped with Cnidaria but were split off because cnidarians have nematocysts (stinging cells) for defense & food capture while ctenophores only have colloblasts (sticky cells) on their tentacles.

[tswinner]

Cool!

Thanks Leslie,
Wow, you are so much smarter than me. I like to take pictures.
So what happens to the dead shrimp? Does the ctenophore eventually dissolve or expel it?
Do ctenophore get bigger than this? Can you give me the winning numbers to Saturdays Lotto? So many questions and only one Leslie.

Thanks,

Todd

[Leslie Harris]

If I'm so much smarter how come my pictures suck and your pics are fabulous???

The dead shrimp will be digested by the ctenophore. The remains will be spit back out. Ctenos & cnidarians both have one opening. Anything that comes in goes out the same way (and doesn't the thought of that just leave a nasty taste in your mouth!). Some ctenophores get up to about 6 feet in length, most notably Cestrum veneris, the Venus' Girdle. If you get lucky you & Scotto might see some on your blue water dives http://aguapictures-com.photoshelter.co ... Q90boUl7Zw The one you photographed belongs to the group Cydippida. They usually max out at one inch so you're safe. Our local species is Pleurobrachia brachei
http://jellieszone.com/pleurobrachia.htm and the one you photographed in Truk might be their local equivalent. Saturday's winning numbers are.... hey, wait a minute, I need that money to buy a better camera so my pictures will be better. It's all in the camera, right?