BloodBelly Comb Jelly

Cool and creepy creature Watch only if you have nothing important/better to do!

At the Aquarium

Brilliant and seemingly glowing, the bloodybelly comb jelly comes in different shades of red but always has a blood-red stomach. The sparkling display on the outside comes from light diffracting from tiny transparent, hair-like cilia. These beat continuously, propelling the jelly through the water.

This species has only recently come to the attention of scientists, thanks to images like this, supplied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s remotely operated vehicles.

Natural History

Ironically, at the depths where the bloodybelly lives, it’s nearly invisible to predators. In the darkness of the deep sea, animals that are red appear black and blend into the dark background.

Conservation

The deep sea may seem remote, but what we send down eventually cycles back up into our lives. Deep sea animals are part of a thriving ecosystem. Our trash and chemicals may harm them if we are careless with our waste.

Cool Facts

Scientists believe the bloodybelly’s red belly helps mask bioluminescent light from the prey it swallows. A predator with a glowing gut could easily become prey.

The bloodbelly’s depth range is from 984 to 3,320 feet.

It grows to a length of six inches.

The genus name Lampoctena derives from the Greek roots for “brilliant comb,” referring to the bright iridescence diffracted from the animal’s comb rows.

Designing the STOP sign

This one’s really good. Kind of really explains how people screw up and complicate simple requirements. Here’s a simple problem that needed a simple solution. And the execs add their own (stupid?) ideas to it and mess it up completely. Really amusing!!

No red roses for Saudi sweethearts

Not quite a surprise…!!! I don’t know what’s the kick in walking the opposite direction always. It’s nice to walk your own way every now and then and you will be respected for that. But, differentiating for the sake of it sometimes gets too annoying…!! So much for freedom and personal choice!!!!!!

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items colored scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolizing love, newspapers said.

“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.

It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day, which it sees as encouraging relations between men and women outside of wedlock, the newspaper said.

Saudi Arabia imposes an austere form of Sunni Islam which prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and a cloak.

Relations outside marriage are strictly banned and punishable by law.

(Reporting by Souhail Karam; Editing by Giles Elgood)

[ Source: Reuters ]