Sea Gooseberry
(Pleurobrachia sp.)
Have you ever seen The Abyss?

Despite the fact that the sea gooseberry is gelatinous zooplankton, it looks a lot like a "jellyfish". However, this creature is a ctenophore, not a cnidarian, and instead of stinging cells, it has retractable tentacles that are sticky and collect their food. To get the food into their mouths, they spin in the water so their tentacles drape over their mouth. The most prominent feature you may notice is their 8 comb rows, which propel them through the water like tiny paddles and often reflect rainbow colors because they act as prisms in the light. This harmless little bit of plankton can be up to 15 millimeters in body length (not including tentacles). They are common in the surface waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific in the summer.


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