Why Jellyfish Float Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee
From Deep Look
3 min3rd4th5th6thScience
Summary
A jellyfish has no brain, bones or blood -- just a pulsing bell and trailing tentacles. Deep Look reveals how its simple body pumps to swim and fires thousands of tiny stingers to catch food.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A jellyfish squeezes its bell to push water and drift along, while its tentacles are lined with microscopic stingers that fire like harpoons at passing prey. Simple parts, but each one has a clear survival job.
- How does a jellyfish move through the water without any bones?
- What do the tentacles do to help the jellyfish eat?
- How can an animal survive with such a simple body?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: tentacle, stinger, pulse, structure.
Try it: Open and close your cupped hand underwater in a sink. Write how a jellyfish's bell pushes water to swim.