you jelly?

some people like birds as pets. others like dogs or cats. some unique individuals will like the odd frog or snake or robot chicken. but for me, i don't think these are animals i would be comfortable taking care of. i mean, cats are awesome, for example. don't get me wrong. they're cute and cuddly (unless you're a sphynx cat. eww), but i'm a very low maintenance kind of person. i'd rather not have the responsibility or the obligation of taking care of these animals. not that they're hard to take care of, i guess. i'm sure a lot of people think it's a fairly easy task. but the poop! the voms! the hairballs and other unsightly bodily excetions! do not want.

so, a long time ago, i made up my mind that if i ever got a pet, it would be a jellyfish. on a side note, damn you will smith in 7 pounds for taking this away from me for a while. however, not any old jellyfish is sufficient, i would think. though most are mystical and hypnotising in the way they glide through the water (and that is sufficient to keep me intrigued), there's a kind-of wish list i have:

bloodbelly comb jellyfish

green fluorescent protein. we've talked about it here. super. epic. awesomeness. i guess i would ideally like a tank of multiple species of bioluminescent jellies.


uv jellies
i couldn't find an image of multiple species in a single tank (especially uv ones) but the concept is slightly different from bioluminescent jellies (which emit their own light). uv jellies still use GFP but require an external light source (UV light) to induce the green - purple spectrum of emissions. to compensate you for the lack of a visual cue, here have a video of fake pretty jellies. it's not safe to go alone.


(edit: i found a nice clip, albeit it being misnamed)


deadly jellyfish
ok, i realise the deadliest jellyfish are a group of box jellies (apparently chironex fleckeri, carukia barnesi and malo kingi, but i just cited wikipedia for this). my fascination lies with the portuguese man o' war. there's something about the... foatiness? that just gets me. enough talk, more videos!





how beautiful are those!