Fact Friday
Some cnidarians switch between a polyp and a medusa body form. Corals and anemones only have the polyp stage. Jellyfish, as we think of them, are in the medusa stage, but they have a polyp stage when they are juveniles. Hydrozoans have the opposite: their adult form is a polyp, but they have a juvenile medusa stage.
Photo Credit: KSLOF, Rob Martimbeault
August 30, 2024
Farmer Damselfish
Farmer damselfish get their name because they actually “farm” a patch of algae, including pulling out the weeds! These fish also aggressively defend their crops from other, much bigger fish and even humans. Scientists have discovered that damselfish cannot digest all types of algae. These farmers pull out all algae except for the one they prefer. Often the favored algae seems to grow only on the “farms”. Learn more.
Stegastes migricans By Elapied [CC-BY-SA-2.0-FR (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/fr] 23 March 2006 via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stegastes_nigricans_1.jpg.
