Sea Gooseberry videos

Prey's-eye view of a sea gooseberry. Unlike sea anemones and jellyfish, which have stinging tentacles, those of sea gooseberries are sticky

Higher magnification movie of the propulsion system - hairs (cilia) that are fused into eight rows of saw-tooth combs. Each row can be stopped and started independently, giving very precise directional control. The beating combs create flickering interference colours.

Side view of a sea gooseberry swimming

The long, trailing tentacles dangle below the animal. Swimming into a swarm of sea gooseberries, some of which are large enough to catch small fish, would be a fatal mistake for any small planktonic animal.

These are some videos of the sea gooseberries that I caught yesterday and posted at http://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.com/2009/09/sea-gooseberries.html

and

http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.com/

You can read more about these remarkable animals at http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/ctenophora.html

and

http://faculty.washington.edu/cemills/Ctenophores.html