How long does it take for the jellyfish to stay alive out of sea water? Do jellyfishes melt in the rain? What ecological role do jellyfishes play in the marine ecosystem? These are three questions answered in this article. Read on to find out.
The trip to Kitu-Kito, a tourist destination north of Puerto Princesa, on board a raft made of large PVC tubings, appeared to be uneventful until tiny blobs of jellyfishes of different sizes gained our group’s attention. While a scourge to swimmers, the jellyfishes became a subject of photographic interest for me.
Various sizes of jellyfishes bob out of the water, from 5-inch diameter ones with venomous tentacles to the cute, half-inch juveniles. Here are two of them:
How Long Can Jellyfishes Stay Out of the Water?
Taken by curiosity and instinctively, our boatman caught one of the jellyfishes and placed it on the front edge of the raft. The transparent jellyfish helplessly throbbed just like a heart on the wooden surface indicating that it is alive. Its gelatinous bell (its head) looks edible.
The taste of nata de coco flashed in my mind. I had that urge to slice and eat the chewy head.
I wonder if it tastes like nata de coco? Are jellyfishes edible? The boatman said, “Yes, it is.”
The jellyfish, in fact, is a delectable delicacy in Asia. These are dried, preserved and shipped to restaurants in Japan, China, and Thailand. But I never had the chance to taste it and will not venture to do so unless everybody is eating it.
“How long can jellyfishes survive out of the water?” asked one of my friends. Being a biologist, and, not knowing exactly how long it will take for these animals to stay out of the water, I retorted, “Let’s use a timer to find out.” And so we did.
Glancing once in a while and observing the jellyfish for its tell-tale throb of life somewhere in the middle of its body, we waited until no discernible movement to indicate life is evident. After a while and looking at my watch’s timer, I blurted out to the group: “48 minutes.”
Now we learned that jellyfishes could survive that long out of sea water. If it does not return within that period to the deeper parts of the sea during the rush of sea water towards low tide levels, then it gets isolated and fried under the sun or get dehydrated. Thus, it somehow distributes nutrients along the coastline as it becomes a part of the beach ecosystem food chain.
Do Jellyfishes Melt in the Rain?
Another question sprang up. “Is it true that jellyfishes melt when out of the water and exposed to the rain?”
Honestly, I could not think of a good reason why jellyfishes will melt in the rain. They’re not ice cream or made of ice. I have heard this wrong notion on many occasions. And so I simply said, “I don’t think so,” explaining a bit about the composition of animal tissue.
As if to confirm my point, by sheer coincidence, it rained that afternoon despite the generally fair weather in the morning. The raft shook with every gust of wind that pass our way and alarmed almost everyone. I have been through this situation many times in the field and I feel confident that the wind will settle in a few moments.
The raindrops fell on the jellyfish, washing it through and through. The jellyfish, of course, did not melt. It’s still there.
3. Ecological Value of Jellyfishes
Jellyfishes form part of the marine food chain. They prey mainly on the zooplankton. In turn, they are favorite diets of sea turtles. Thus, they help stabilize the marine ecosystem.
Transparent plastics thrown into sea water sometimes get mistaken for jellyfishes. This is the reason many sea turtles die as plastics block their gut and keep them full when, in reality, they are without food in their stomachs.
© 2014 September 8 P. A. Regoniel
We found 40 washed up jellyfish today on our walk along mersea beach and my 2 children ran up to each one scattered across a large stretch of beach and gently putting each one either in a rock pool or in the sea using their buckets n spades.kids age 8 and 16
And any litter we found,we picked it up and put in a bin.my children are fully aware of the damage out litter causes to animals
Sad
I am everyone else, and I googled ‘How Long Can Jellyfishes Stay Out of the Water?’
Interestingly I go this post.
Yes, me too actually. I photographed a Jelly on the beach and a friend who saw the picture said it was probably still alive. This hadn’t even occured to me at the time so I googled and came to this page.
Although this experiment also made me sad, at least next time I will think twice, and try to return the Jelly to the sea.
I feel sad, too, upon reading the reactions. But my intention in writing the article is to increase our knowledge on how long jellyfishes of this species live. At the time I wrote the article, I could not find the answer to that specific question on how long it lives. Also, I remembered reading an article of a jellyfish that doesn’t die which puzzles scientists: https://immortal-jellyfish.com/
However, if we don’t stop screwing around with the planet and our self-fulfilling, prophetic ignorance wins out, jelly fish (and maybe a handful of other creatures) will be the only ones able to survive in the highly acidic oceans that are being predicted. Of which, only about 5 are edible, I think.
I found 2 jellyfish today that would.of died when the tide went out and some idiot kids poking sticks at them so i helped them back into the ocean. They were alive but their water levels were dropping quickly. Used our frisby and put into deep water and watched them go about their business.
Have to say it felt pretty good.
Pretty callous of you to kill a jellyfish just to see how long it takes to die. I mean, what was the point? Obviously that kind of experiment is hardly new so it seems to be a waste of life to me.
Yes I agree it’s callous. However that’s science, and now that I know the answer, it does mean that whenever I see one washed up on the beach I’ll gently place it back in the ocean in the hope that it survives so in the long run this experiment …not done by me, I’m just reading the answer….has saved lives.
Science? No it was curiosity. Could have just Googled it like everybody else.
Dear Rosa, of course they do. They can’t swim without water. Water is needed by all living organisms. It is the stuff of life.
do jelly fish need water?:/