New Revelations About Jellyfish Revealed Using GPS Tracking Data
21 Apr 2015Researchers have found a way to use GPS tracking technology to obtain more information on jellyfish.
Tracking animals is not a foreign concept; for several years, scientists have been using GPS tracking technology to watch the behaviors, habits, and movements of everything from tigers to whales. However, jellyfish have always been somewhat elusive because they were impossible to track
A new study, though, is revealing insights about the mystical jellyfish from a GPS tracking data that didn’t track the jellyfish itself, but the ocean currents.
Researchers were very curious as to how jellyfish are able to adapt so well in the ocean, especially considering they have no brains, bones, or even a heart. Through this tracking study, they were able to gather a lot of useful information on their adaptation abilities.
When looking through the data they received, researchers discovered that jellyfish have the ability to automatically detect the ocean waves. Once they detect the waves at a certain current, they know it is time to swim against those currents.
Before this study took place, the assumption was that only animals with eyes would be able to avoid an ocean’s currents. Thanks to the GPS tracker, researchers have come to the realization that sight is not necessary to avoid the currents, as jellyfish have their own sense without eyes.
Researchers also know that not all jellyfish will avoid the currents. This is based on personal preference. Some prefer swimming with the current, and others swim against it. It also seems as if they have some great control when it comes to what direction they are going to turn. Even if it looks like jellyfish are just floating around in the ocean, letting it take them, they are controlling what they do and where they go.
Diving further into the study, this only proves that a creature’s brain or eyes don’t determine how well they can adapt. Jellyfish have neither, yet have the instinct needed to adapt to different environments within the strong and dangerous ocean. They still know how the waves and ocean’s currents work, without a brain or eyes.
The GPS tracking devices used by the team of researchers for this project were housed inside a float that records how the tides move. It also recorded how the jellyfish move according to how the tides move.
The study has shown how fascinating jellyfish really are, now that we know they aren’t just drifters. Graeme Hays of Deakin University in Australia agrees:
“Jellyfish are not just bags of jelly drifting passively in the oceans. They are incredibly advanced in their orientation abilities.”
Researchers will continue to track the data of the GPS tracking floats that are currently in the ocean.
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