Range: Temperate to tropical seas around the world

Habitat: Pelagic to intertidal estuaries 

Size: 4 to over 24 inches (10-61cm)

Diet: Small fish, crustaceans, detritus, planktonic organisms, and more

Threats: Sea turtles, tuna, sunfish, humans, and more

Lifespan: At least a year (They die after mating)

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing blubber jellyfish. These jellyfish are also known as blue blubber jellyfish, jelly blubbers, and fat-arm jellyfish - which are all in reference to their thick oral arms. Blubber jellyfish get the name "blue" when they live in harmony with algae which give them their color, but they can also be beige, brown, white, and even deep purple or red. There are a few dozen species of blubber jellyfish and they live in tropical to temperate marines waters around the world including the Mediterranean Ocean.

Blubber jellyfish are pelagic, meaning they're found in open water, to coastal water, sometimes even appearing in intertidal estuaries. These jellyfish lack stinging tentacles around their bell like some other jellyfish species such as the golden jellyfish, but blubber jellyfish still have stinging cells on their oral arms which help immobilize prey. Blubber jellyfish eat small fish, crustaceans, planktonic organisms, and detritus. They catch these meals on their arms which also house multiple "mouths" through which food is consumed. Blubber jellyfish have eight oral arms.

In size, these invertebrates may be four to over twenty four inches (10-61cm) across their bell. A jellyfish's bell is the dome-shaped structure from which their oral arms dangle. In the case of bubble jellyfish, the bell is almost a perfect hemisphere! Predators to blubber jellyfish include sea turtles like leatherbacks, sunfish, tuna, and even humans! Blubber jellyfish have to be processed correctly so they aren't dangerous to consume, but if they are, they're said to be flakey in texture. That being said, they have other means of fighting back. Some jellyfish species form blooms in which their populations soar and some blubber jellyfish species are no exception. One time, a bloom of blubber jellyfish was sucked into the cooling tanks of a U.S. warship which hindered the ship's ability to cool its engines until the jellies were flushed from its system!

While blubber jellyfish do have stinging cells, they aren't believed to be dangerous to humans. Most sources cite a sting from them can go unnoticed at best and cause some mild pain at worst.

Blubber jellyfish look somewhat like the spotted jellyfish we've discussed in a previous episode, but there's a way to tell them apart. Spotted jellyfish have trailing filaments from their arms while blubber jellyfish do not!

Like other jellyfish, they reproduce via both sexual and asexual reproduction. Adult blubber jellyfish brood their eggs until they hatch into larvae which can live for more than a year before settling to the seafloor. From here they produce clones that then develop into adults. Like many jellyfish species, they die shortly after mating, but there is little research in this area. Who knows what else there is to learn!

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