Lobate Comb Jelly - Ocyropsis

This comb jelly (phylum Ctenophora, order Lobata, family Ocyropsidae) is characterised by having a pair of distinctive large muscular lobes at the oral end of the body. This transparent organism floats in the open ocean plankton community, foraging by swimming horizontally with its ciliated auricles held rigid. It captures prey with the aid of the mucus covered lobes, predating cydippid ctenophores, siphonophores, pteropods, large copepods and fish larvae. It is often seen swimming backwards by flapping the large lobes together, producing a cloud of luminescent mucus. This particular individual was captured and photographed off Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

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