Fungia scruposa
Encyclopedia
Fungia scruposa is a species of coral
that is the first to have been observed to eat jellyfish. They are around 25 cm in diameter and normally eat a variety of food from bacteria to mesozooplankton measuring 1 mm in diameter. During an algal bloom
in 2009 researchers observed the coral consuming the jellyfish Aurelia aurita
. This was the first time such behaviour has been seen in the wild. It is not known how the coral manages to capture the jellyfish in the first place. Sense fungia have sticky tentacles that they use to pull food to their mouths; It's possible the jellyfish simply rubbed the fungia, got stuck, and the fungia pulled it in.
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
that is the first to have been observed to eat jellyfish. They are around 25 cm in diameter and normally eat a variety of food from bacteria to mesozooplankton measuring 1 mm in diameter. During an algal bloom
Algal bloom
An algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. Typically, only one or a small number of phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be recognized by discoloration...
in 2009 researchers observed the coral consuming the jellyfish Aurelia aurita
Aurelia aurita
Aurelia aurita is one of a group of more than ten morphologically nearly identical jellyfish species in the genus Aurelia...
. This was the first time such behaviour has been seen in the wild. It is not known how the coral manages to capture the jellyfish in the first place. Sense fungia have sticky tentacles that they use to pull food to their mouths; It's possible the jellyfish simply rubbed the fungia, got stuck, and the fungia pulled it in.