Random Reasons the Lion's Mane Jellyfish Is One of the Ocean's Weirdest Creatures (12 items)

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  (#4) Their Greatest Enemy Is a Big Leathery Turtle

  Every animal needs a nemesis, and the lion's mane jellyfish has a mortal enemy in the leatherback sea turtle that feeds almost exclusively on jelly. Obviously not just any jelly, specifically they need to eat jellyfish. Because the lion's mane isn't very dense the turtles have to eat gobs of it. Lion's mane jellyfish have no hope of outrunning a leatherback turtle, all the turtles have to do is find the balloon like jellyfish and slurp them up. 
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  (#10) And You Thought All Animals Needed Eyes

  This giant jellyfish decided to never evolve eyes onto its globule head thing. Instead, they're able to detect light and dark but no shapes or colors. When you live at the bottom of the sea you don't really need eyes, although it would be very cute if giant jellyfish had to go around wearing swim goggles. 
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  (#11) It's Got No Brain

  Okay so they don't have eyes, they surely have to have brains right? Nope. Lisa-Ann Gershwin, a marine biologist with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization said what many people have been thinking for quite some time. “A brain is kinda overrated, really. We find it kind of entertaining, and a little bit important, but they do all the stuff they need to do without a brain. But so do venus fly traps. Lots of things can actually do kind of sophisticated behaviors without a brain.” These super sized sea creatures actually have nerve bundles that run all of like low grade Apple 2s. 
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  (#3) They've Got Some Very Grabby Tentacles

  If you've got tentacles that reach out to 120 feet, then it's likely you'll use them for something. The lion's mane jellyfish can reach out with each individual tentacle - of which it has many - and grab its prey for a nice little snack. But what's an LMJ snacking on? This underwater dynamo has a diet of small fish, sea creatures, and other jelly fish. 
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  (#1) A Lion's Mane Jellyfish Is SO Big

  HOW BIG IS IT? Well, a belly of these particular jellyfish grow to be eight feet wide, and its tentacles reach out to be 120 feet long. Impressive. That's longer than the entire length of a blue whale, one of the largest creatures in the ocean. 
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  (#5) Let's Talk About Sex (Jelly) Baby

  Lion's mane jellyfish have pushed aside the entire need for a mate to help with procreation. This mammoth of a sea creature carries both eggs and sperm. Once an egg is fertilized, the female of the species carries it on its tentacles until they develop into larvae. At maturation the larvae are deposited onto a hard surface and become polyps, then the polyps transform into stacks of smaller creatures - which is insane - and grow into a living jellyfish. That's incredibly unsettling.  

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