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An drawing depicting the Flowerhat Jelly using its bioluminescence.

Summary

Olindias formosa are bell-shaped hydrozoans that are typically perceived as jellyfish. Olindias formosa are often misunderstood as jellyfish when they are actually hydrozoans. They are extremely colorful and use bioluminescence to attract their prey, since Olindias formosa are predators, and in turn do not have many predators themselves. There are ways that the Flowerhat jelly's tentacles (more specifically the fluorescence from the tentacles) to further expand our knowledge on bioimaging. The diet of the Olindias formosa consists mainly of small fishes, since they are a predatory species. There are several ways they are able to hunt for small fishes deeper in the sea, the main one being their florescence.

Location and ecology

The Flowerhat Jelly, or Olindias formosa, are mostly found in the Japanese sea. The Japanese Sea is home to a variety of diverse organisms and wildlife, the often colder periods of the Japanese sea are thought to have contributed greatly to the diversity of marine life in the ecosystem. Olindias formosa are bell-shaped hydrozoans that are typically perceived as jellyfish. They are extremely colorful and use bioluminescence to attract their prey, since Olindias formosa are predators, and in turn do not have many predators themselves. They are benthic dwellers, and usually sink to the bottom of the ocean. Their life span is not long, as they only live about 4-6 months in total.

A Jellyfish That is Not Actually a Jellyfish

Olindias formosa are often misunderstood as jellyfish when they are actually hydrozoans. Hydrozoans are a taxonomic class of mostly small-bodied predators in marine environments. The name hydrozoa comes from the Greek name hydra, which means sea serpent. They are predators and related to jellyfish and corals. The common name: Flowerhat Jelly is one of the main reasons for this misconception. Another organism that is a hydrozoan is the Portuguese Man O'War.

Body plan

Another reason there might me misconceptions about the Flowerhat Jelly being a hydrozoan is that since hydrozoans are related to jellys, their body plans can look similar as well. "This striking and rare jelly has brilliant, multicolored tentacles trailing from a translucent, pinstriped bell. It also has tentacles around the rim of its bell that it can quickly coil and uncoil" These tentacles allow the animal to swim almost effortlessly while also protecting themselves, and coil when not in use. Bioluminescence is one of Olindias formosa 's best skills and forms of protection. The elements of the body plan are essential in displaying bioluminescence. "Flower hat jellies have a brilliantly colored bell with pinstripes vertically downward and long streaming tentacles that, when coiled, can look very short. Their bioluminescence against a dark background of the lower water column is sometimes described as looking like fireworks.

The body plan of the Flowerhat Jelly contain tentacles, like these.

The use of Olindias formosa's Acid-tolerant GFP's in Biology Today

There are many ways that organisms in the ocean can help to protect and expand our knowledge on different areas in the science fields. For example, there are ways that the Flowerhat jelly's tentacles (more specifically the fluorescence from the tentacles) to further expand our knowledge on bioimaging. "Some of the tentacles from Olindias formosa were tested for green fluorescent proteins. The proteins that are able to be responsible for synthesizing the fluorescence is called a Green Florescence Protein, or GFP. "Through the use of titration, scientists were able to conclude that the green fluorescent proteins were fairly acid tolerant, and could be used as a template for bioimaging. This discovery can be important for many factors, one being less invasive exploratory surgeries for humans and organisms, alike. This would lead to quicker recovery, and possibly less time collecting information to be processed to lead to a quicker healing. "Bioimaging is used as a non-invasive way to obtain information from a patient with as little interference as possible." Therefore, this florescence that looks just beautiful to the human eye, can mean much more important things in the years to come. "The fluorescence of the tentacle tips of the Flowerhat jelly have a emission level of 528nm.

Diet

The diet of the Olindias formosa consists mainly of small fishes, since they are a predatory species. There are several ways they are able to hunt for small fishes deeper in the sea, the main one being their florescence. Bioluminescence and florescence are found in a variety of marine organisms, however bioluminescence and fluorescence are more commonly found in organisms that reside in the deep sea. The fluorescence of the Flowerhat jelly were able to be concluded through some research in other similar organisms. . There have been many scientific experiments to understand the attraction of fish to this fluorescence. Studies and experiments have proved that the prey of the jellies, juvenile rockfishes, are more attracted to the jellies when bioluminescence is shown. While Olindias formosa use florescence and bioluminescence to hunt most of the time, they still do have tentacles which can prove very useful in their hunting as well. They capture their prey by injecting stinging cells into their prey through their tentacles. They can also grow and shrink in body seize depending on the variability of available food.