Predator Made of Jelly

Ocean plankton ranges in size from tiny plant-like cells to gelatinous animals that can be almost as long as a bus but with soft, jelly-like bodies. This comb jelly, Ocyropsis maculata, which lives away from the coast, can be 6 inches in diameter. As a predator, it uses its broad lobes to catch small plankton animals, rolling them up like a baseball glove catching a ball. It also flaps its lobes to swim quickly when disturbed.
(Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)