Coral gangs trap and eat jellyfish

Scientists have discovered that tiny corals of a few millimeters can band together to trap and eat much larger jellyfish.

The team, made up of Italian researchers and the University of Edinburgh, discovered that corals were also cooperating.

They discovered that when jellyfish were trying to escape, they were brushing against other corals that were trapped on them.

It was previously thought that only large corals could trap such prey.
Fabio Badalamenti

Prof. Murray Roberts, of the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, told the Radio Scotland Newsdrive program that the team was studying coral caverns off the coast Sicilian in the Mediterranean Sea

. that corals typically lived on cliffs or overhangs and were different from their tropical-based cousins, who lived in closer badociation with their prey.

He said: "These corals that live in caves or overhangs, they are in darker conditions and it seems that they have evolved to live in these places maybe because that is where jellyfish are washed when they bloom.

Copyright of the image
Fabio Badalamenti

"The corals are there on the lookout to trap them."

"What we see is that if a tiny portion of jellyfish is caught in a coral polyp, the others will often be able to catch it and the whole jellyfish will eventually be swallowed up and then consumed by the coral. "

The team observed the Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish eating coral, or the purple stinger, which is responsible for most of the painful stings that people suffer while swimming Fabio Badalamenti

Copyright
Fabio Badalamenti

Prof Roberts said the discovery overturned the conventional wisdom that corals were confined to relatively small prey, such as shrimp and plankton. 19659007] He added: "What is fascinating is that ecologically – how are these corals aware of what they do, how do they cooperate together, these distinct polyps of corals? to capture this larger prey? "

The study is published in the journal Ecology.