How do box jellyfish function without a brain or a heart?

we are researching how jellyfish do things without a Heart or a Brain?
Emmy Legroulx Lacey Leung
Grade 7

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Problem

Can Box Jellyfish funtion without a brain and a heart.

Method

Research

 What Is a Box JellyFish? 

A box Jellyfish is a creature that is not classified as a fish or anything else. It belongs to the Cubozoa (cube-a-zoo-a) family. A Cubozoa is a type of animal that has a cube shaped bell and deadly venom, they also have specialized eyes on their bell. However, all Jellyfish are not the same. There are a couple different types, there are Scyphozoa (sai-fuh-zow-a) and Hydrozoa 

(hai-druh-zow-a) which are true jellyfish. Then there is Cnidaria (ni-dar-ia) and  Phylum (fai-luhm). All of those have more groups inside them, a Cubozoa is part of Cnidaria which means a box Jellyfish is a Cnidaria. They are all categorized by their shape, size, behavior and much more.   A box jellyfish or the scientific name, Chironex Fleckeri ( che-or-next flec-eri) is mostly found in the Indo pacific ocean. They are known for their deadly poison that comes out of their 3 meter long tentacles, which is about 10 feet and their box shaped bell that can become up to 12 inches long. These measurements can change from the age of the box jellyfish to the environment and food sources. The box jellyfish has many different nicknames in the sea, from sea wasp, to marine stinger, these nicknames come because of how potent the venom is, killing 69 people from 1883. Although their sting is deadly, if there is medical attention to the wound, there is a chance of survival, but the marks of the sting will stay there for life.

 

Why Don't Box Jellyfish Have a Heart or brain? 

Box Jellyfish like other types of jellyfish don't have a heart or a brain, this is because of the adaptations Jellyfish have and just how simple their body is. The top of the jellyfish which is called the bell is made out of gelatinous material. It's too thin to hold or keep in anything as heavy as a brain or heart, even if the heart or brain is smaller, it still wouldnt be able to stay in. The Box jellyfish is also just a really simple animal, so the nerve net can do almost everything that a brain can do,  just in an easier way with easy commands. So the nerve net is basically a jellyfish's brain.    The reason box Jellyfish don't have a heart is because again their small, fragile bell just can't keep it in. So in replacement of the heart, their bell has special cells that are not specifically named. The bell is not fully made up of cells, it is mostly water and proteins. But the cells that are there can do everything the heart does, besides pump blood because they don't have any. That's only the first layer of the bell, there are three in total the: Epidermis (ep-i-der-mis), Mesoglea (mess-o-gle-a) and the Gastrodermis (gas-tro-derm-is) are all of them. So the bell of the Jellyfish is their heart.

 

     How Do Box Jellyfish Function Without A Brain and Heart?    Box Jellyfish have something called a nerve net instead of a brain. The nerve net is located at the top of the bell, almost like the brain the nerve net is interconnected to the nerve cell. A nerve cell is all throughout the box Jellyfish's body, it does what the nerve net tells it too, just like the human brain. It follows the simple commands like catching prey, moving, eatting, looking around, and much more. Those are just some things the box jellyfish does in its day to day life.

For a box Jellyfish's heart they have their bell, their bell is like the human heart but it doesn't pump blood because Jellyfish don't have any. Their bell does this thing called diffusion,

diffusion is where the bell basically short throws the water taking in the gasses, proteins, nutrients, and waste products. Their gelatinous body spreads all of the gasses,proteins,nutrients and waste around eliminating the need for a heart. They rely on how thin the box Jellyfish's bell structure is and how thin the tissue is

 

   How Do Box Jellyfish Sense Pain Or Danger?

Their Nerve net can help them respond to any touch or change in the water around them. The box jellyfish's tentacles help them with a lot of stuff. They have a special type of cell in their tentacles that can find a chemical trace and can feel anything that touches the water. If something hits or touches the tentacles they can trigger a cell that will help them sense more prey or potential threats.

 

 How Does A Box Jellyfish Capture And Eat Its Prey Without A Brain?

The Box Jellyfish doesn't have a normal mouth, so it can't just go up and swallow something either. There are four important things for a box Jellyfish to eat, the first one is tentacles and Nematocysts (neh-muh-tuh-suhsts). A nematocysts is a type of cell in a box Jellyfish's tentacles. When the Jellyfish gets its prey, it shoots nematocysts into the prey, then the Nematocysts release poison into the prey, paralyzing it. The second part is Adhesive mucus, the box Jellyfish makes the mucus to help the prey get even more tangled in the tentacles. The third part is when the Jellyfish uses their oral arms located by the Jellyfish's mouth to move the prey to the opening of the jellyfish's mouth. The last part is digestion, when the Jellyfish puts the prey in their mouth the disintegration starts to happen. The Enzymes (en-zimez) are released to break down the prey while the particles and the nutrients get absorbed by diffusion. 

 

 

 

Data

-When the Jellyfish gets its prey, it shoots nematocysts into the prey, then the Nematocysts release poison into the prey, paralyzing it. The second part is Adhesive mucus, the box Jellyfish makes the mucus to help the prey get even more tangled in the tentacles. The third part is when the Jellyfish uses their oral arms located by the Jellyfish's mouth to move the prey to the opening of the jellyfish's mouth. The last part is digestion, when the Jellyfish puts the prey in their mouth the disintegration starts to happen

-A box Jellyfish is a creature that is not classified as a fish or anything else. It belongs to the Cubozoa (cube-a-zoo-a) family.

- They are known for their deadly poison that comes out of their 3-meter-long tentacles, which is about 10 feet, and their box-shaped bell that can become up to 12 inches long.

-Box Jellyfish like other types of jellyfish don't have a heart or a brain, this is because of the adaptations Jellyfish have and just how simple their body is. The top of the jellyfish which is called the bell is made out of gelatinous material. It's too thin to hold or keep in anything as heavy as a brain or heart, even if the heart or brain is smaller, it still wouldnt be able to stay in.

- The reason box Jellyfish don't have a heart is because again their small, fragile bell just can't keep it in. So in replacement of the heart, their bell has special cells that are not specifically named. The bell is not fully made up of cells, it is mostly water and proteins. But the cells that are there can do everything the heart does, besides pump blood .

-Their bell does this thing called diffusion, diffusion is where the bell basically short throws the water taking in the gasses, proteins, nutrients, and waste products. Their gelatinous body spreads all of the gasses, proteins, nutrients and waste around eliminating the need for a heart.

-Their Nerve net can help them respond to any touch or change in the water around them.

-When the Jellyfish gets its prey, it shoots nematocysts into the prey, then the Nematocysts release poison into the prey, paralyzing it. The second part is Adhesive mucus, the box Jellyfish makes the mucus to help the prey get even more tangled in the tentacles. The third part is when the Jellyfish uses their oral arms located by the Jellyfish's mouth to move the prey to the opening of the jellyfish's mouth. The last part is digestion, when the Jellyfish puts the prey in their mouth the disintegration starts to happen. The Enzymes (en-zimez) are released to break down the prey while the particles and the nutrients get absorbed by diffusion. 

 

Conclusion

In Conclusion, we have found out that box jellyfish function without a brain and heart by using their nerve net to send commands to the nerve cell. And they use their bell as a heart because it can give them all the nutrients they need.

 

Citations

Acknowledgement

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