In a new study, scientists have discovered the only known "predator" corals to eat adult jellyfish.
According to a report in National Geographic News, the study, led by scientists from Israel's Bar-Ilan University and Tel Aviv University, witnessed a mushroom coral ingesting a roughly 4-and-a-half-inch-wide (12-centimeter) moon jellyfish in the Red Sea in March 2009.
Marine ecologist Jennifer Smith, who wasn't part of the study, agreed that the find was unique, though she's "not entirely surprised."
Mushroom corals, which have soft bodies, have no eyes and can barely move of their own accord, according to Smith.
"When you're dependent on things drifting (for food), anything helps," said the Scripps Institution of Oceanography professor. "You'll take any opportunity, as long as it doesn't kill you," he added.
Comments