When you bump into a friend you haven’t seen in a while on the street and you offer to have them for a meal, it typically doesn’t mean your friend is the meal. Unless you’re Hannibal Lecter or a comb jelly, that is.
These two comb jellies literally bump into each other. Naturally, the one on the left, which is the larger of the two, simply swallows the other jelly whole in one big gulp. It even does a ripply, cartoon-like burp with its mouth after it dines on the offending jelly.
Comb jellies, which aren’t jellyfish, by the way, come in a number of shapes and sizes, and they will eat just about anything.
While some have tentacles, others, like the one in the video above, just open their big mouths and swallow their prey whole. Once bitten, the dining comb jelly keeps its mouth shut, preventing its meal from escaping. Inside the comb jelly’s cavity, cilia act as teeth and slowly tear the prey to pieces.
So if you do have any comb jelly friends, just pretend their dinner invite got lost in the mail.
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