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, composed of Italian researchers and the University of Edinburgh, discovered that coral

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

before, it was thought that only a large coral could trap such prey

Professor Murray Roberts, of the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, told the Radio Scotland Newsdrive program that the team was studying cave corals off the coast of Scotland. the Sicilian coast in the Mediterranean

. that corals generally lived on cliffs or overhangs and were different from their tropical-based cousins, who lived in association 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.

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

"What we see is that if a tiny part of a jellyfish is caught in a coral polyp, the others will often be able to catch it." And the entire jellyfish ends up. to 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. Professor Roberts says the discovery overturned the conventional wisdom that corals were confined to relatively small prey such as shrimp and plankton.

He adds, "What is fascinating is that these corals are aware of what they are doing, how are they cooperating together, these distinct polyps of coral to capture that larger prey? "

The study by Luigi Musco, Tomas Vega Fernandez, Erik Caroselli, John Murray Roberts, Fabio Badalamenti is published in urnal ecology.