Can somebody tell me about a jellyfish type critter thats supposed to be as big as a football field?

So, About 3 years ago I saw a documentary in which they showed video of this Jellyfish like animal. It was huge. It was supposed to have been made up of 4 separate organisms. If I remember correctly it fights giant squids and whales. It was so unusual that the scientific community created a whole new phylum for it.

This is the one and only time I ever saw this video. Which is strange considering how unusual it is. It was one of the most impressive deep sea docs' I'd ever seen. And I'm a nut for this kind of thing.

Can anybody remember what this animal is called? Searches on google for terms like "giant jellyfish" return lots of hits but not what I am looking for.

If you know where I can find video footage of this please post?

I know one of you can help me on this... so thanks in advance.

I can't help you much; I've never heard any legends about such a huge creature. Portugese Man-O-Wars are said to be a community of creatures, not just one creature (can't recall where I read that), but of course, they're nowhere near that size/area. Tendrils of same can extend downward beyond 20 feet.

I'll go look at the criptid sites I have saved, see if there's anything.

Maybe your thinking about a large squid.

Probably the most impressive jellyfish is the nomura jellyfish, which can get up to a couple hundred pounds.

it is real, And is made up of millions of tiny single organisms, they can arange themselves in differant forms, so it may be difficult to identify. Think living nanobots.

Im pretty sure that they filter feed

I think that is what you mean, they can also light up different colours like the majority of deepsea creatures.

[edit on 24-9-2008 by monkeybus]

I believe the 'largest' jellyfish in terms of mass is (spelling) Psyphonophore which has a huge 'head' for propulsion (opening and closing to pull and push itself through the water) and incredibly long strands of trailing stinging clusters, up to 250 feet long! This is a mid ocean deep sea creature that feeds on plankton and tiny creatures, never rising to surface level (that I know of).

But what you are describing seems to be something 'bulkier'. I know of no creature (other than some plant life) that would cover that kind of area (a football field)

I'm not sure if this is it or not, but when I read your thread I thought of a documentary I saw on the Discovery Channel--The Future is Wild.

It's a documentary created by CGI about the possible life forms millions of years in the future.

One of the creatures they created was supposedly a descendant of the Portuguese man-of-war called 'The Ocean Phantom' which more or less fits your description, except for the fact that it's an entirely fictional creature.




Links:
The Future is Wild (Wikipedia)
The Future is Wild (Official site)

Not sure if this helps, sorry if it doesn't

[edit on 24/9/2008 by mandrake]

No, I'm telling you this was a factual documentary, me and my father both saw it, It was amazing and it was not CG.

I remember that show too it was also excellent.

Thanks anyways,

If only I could remember what it is called


[edit on 24-9-2008 by red_leader]

reply to post by monkeybus

It is Jellyfish like, looks like a jellyfish except humungous. However it is not a jellyfish it is something entirely new to science.

reply to post by monkeybus


I've heard of this... However I have never seen it. I don't think what you're talking about is the same thing. I distinctly remember the narrator saying that the organism was made up of four separate organisms living symbiotically.

Ok, it's hundreds or thousands of little animals called Siphonophores, all together can form what looks like a jellyfish, like the Portuguese man-o-war.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.siphonophores.org...

www.ville-ge.ch...

Some images:
www.imagequest3d.com...

Althoug the real big and old ones are quite rare, and i can't find a nice pic or video, in the net about one of them. But they can be as big as car parking parks!!

[edit on 24/9/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

reply to post by Umbra Sideralis


Thats it!

'the Portuguese Man O' War (Physalia physalis), also known as the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, or the Portuguese man of war, is commonly thought of as a jellyfish but is not a single animal but a siphonophore—a colony of four kinds of highly modified individuals, specialized polyps and medusoids.[1], which are dependent on one another for survival. These pelagic colonial hydroids or hydrozoans are infamous for their very painful, powerful sting.'


Wiki

[edit on 24-9-2008 by monkeybus]

Ah-ha a breakthrough. So what I am really looking for is information, photos or vids of a giant siphonophore... We're getting close though. I can't believe it is so hard to find evidence of this spectacular creature on the great all-knowing google. When the narrator was describing this, even he sounded awestruck!

Thanks guys.. now we're on the right track.

[edit on 24-9-2008 by red_leader]

[edit on 24-9-2008 by red_leader]

[edit on 24-9-2008 by red_leader]

[edit on 24-9-2008 by red_leader]

I've obviously heard of Portugese man of wars before these have been described in science for a long time. Is the fact that these creatures function in this symbiotic way a new revelation? Did biologists simply think they were jellyfish before? Because the way they described it in the documentary it seemed that this symbiotic relationship was something new.

Originally posted by red_leader
I've obviously heard of Portugese man of wars before these have been described in science for a long time. Is the fact that these creatures function in this symbiotic way a new revelation? Did biologists simply think they were jellyfish before? Because the way they described it in the documentary it seemed that this symbiotic relationship was something new.

Yes it's true, some time ago science used to think the Man-o-war was a single organism. I for exemple studied them in school (20 Years ago) as a single Jellyfish organism. So information is changing with new discoveries, as always science is something in a perpetual evolution.

[edit on 25/9/08 by Umbra Sideralis]

Hi All... I'm a marine biologist so would hope to be qualified to answer your question! I'm not sure about an organism the size of a football field - in fact, a single organism (especially a jelly) would probably not survive to that size anyway as they are so fragile. What you are probably looking for is a colonial organism such as the siphonophores that have previously been mentioned. Physalia, the man-o-war is one, but there are others that also get large. However, these organisms are mainly tentacles so are long and thin - you give the impression that your organism has a large surface area?

I would suggest looking up 'salps' - specifically the Pyrosoma. These are colonial tunicates - related to sea squirts. Tunicates are actually the most advanced of all invertebrates, despite their jelly-like appearance, and have a tadpole larva with a rudimentary spinal chord. They are, therefore, almost vertebrates!! Some species of Pyrosoma (I think....) form rafts that may grow huge and be what you are talking about. Those that form chains such as Pyrosoma spinosum may themselves grow many metres long. Hope that helps!!

N

Originally posted by mandrake
I'm not sure if this is it or not, but when I read your thread I thought of a documentary I saw on the Discovery Channel--The Future is Wild.

It's a documentary created by CGI about the possible life forms millions of years in the future.

One of the creatures they created was supposedly a descendant of the Portuguese man-of-war called 'The Ocean Phantom' which more or less fits your description, except for the fact that it's an entirely fictional creature.




Links:
The Future is Wild (Wikipedia)
The Future is Wild (Official site)

Not sure if this helps, sorry if it doesn't

[edit on 24/9/2008 by mandrake]

yup

i was thinking the same thing man-

The animal you are talking about is a praya dubia or Giant siphonophore. It can grow up to 130 feet or 40 meters and feeds on small animlas and plankton.