---
title: "What the sources say about the Comb Jelly | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "42 claims from the Comb Jelly profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/comb-jelly/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Comb Jelly (*Pleurobrachia pileus*)

> 42 claims from the Comb Jelly profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Comb Jelly](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/comb-jelly/)

## Neal (2005). Pleurobrachia pileus Sea gooseberry. Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN), Marine Biological Association of the UK.

http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4140

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The sea gooseberry is a small, oval to spherical comb jelly, up to 1-2.5 cm high | Pleurobrachia pileus is a small, oval to spherical comb jelly, up to 1-2.5 cm high with two long fishing tentacles. |
| Eight rows of fused, hair-like cilia called combs run the length of the body, beating in coordinated waves | It swims with eight longitudinal combs, arranged in four paired rows, that give the comb jellies (ctenophores) their characteristic shimmering appearance. (note: 'fused, hair-like cilia' from the adw-ctenophora synapomorphy wording, 'eight plates of long, fused cilia, called “ctenes"'; MarLIN gives the eight longitudinal rows and the beating in waves for P. pileus itself.) |
| Fishing Lines Up to Twenty Times as Long as Its Body | The fishing tentacles are up to 15-20 times the length of the body (up to 50 cm long), bear lateral filaments, and can be completely retracted into the body. |
| Two fishing tentacles trail behind it, up to 15-20 times the length of the body and up to 50 cm long, and both can be completely retracted into the body | The fishing tentacles are up to 15-20 times the length of the body (up to 50 cm long), bear lateral filaments, and can be completely retracted into the body. |
| Anything that brushes their lateral filaments sticks fast | The fishing tentacles ... bear lateral filaments, and can be completely retracted into the body. (note: 'lateral filaments' from MarLIN; the adhesive is the colloblast claim above.) |
| The sea gooseberry is a carnivore, preying on zooplankton, especially copepods | Pleurobrachia pileus is a carnivore, preying on zooplankton, especially copepods. |
| It is common in open water all around Britain and Ireland, especially in the summer | Common in open water all around Britain and Ireland, especially in the summer. |
| staying pelagic in coastal waters, though it may sometimes become trapped in intertidal pools | Pelagic in coastal waters but may sometimes become trapped in intertidal pools. |
| Eight ciliated diffraction comb rows, and colloblasts, cells that discharge adhesive substances to aid in subduing prey | It swims with eight longitudinal combs, arranged in four paired rows (note: stats.superpower: 'eight' comb rows from MarLIN, diffraction from the adw-ctenophora claim above, colloblasts from the colloblast claim above.) |
| Pelagic in coastal waters, sometimes swept into intertidal rock pools | Pelagic in coastal waters but may sometimes become trapped in intertidal pools. (note: stats.habitat.) |
| Zooplankton, especially copepods | Pleurobrachia pileus is a carnivore, preying on zooplankton, especially copepods. (note: stats.diet.) |
| Eight rows of fused cilia beat in coordinated waves down its body | It swims with eight longitudinal combs, arranged in four paired rows, that give the comb jellies (ctenophores) their characteristic shimmering appearance. (note: task #625; vibe.reason.) |

## Ctenophora (comb jellies). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ctenophora/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In comb jellies the beating motion of the cilia causes light diffraction, which sends waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: ADW states the mechanism at phylum scope, so the sentence names 'comb jellies'; British spelling of 'colour' throughout the body.) |
| many, but not all species of ctenophores are bioluminescent, producing blue-green light | Many, but not all species of ctenophores are also bioluminescent, however, producing blue-green light. (note: Same sentence appears in the body and in faq 3.) |
| calcium-activated photoproteins | Bioluminescent ctenophores produce calcium-activated phytoproteins. (note: ADW's page text spells this 'phytoproteins'; the profile uses the standard scientific term 'photoproteins' for the same molecule.) |
| It was once assumed every ctenophore could | It was once assumed that all ctenophores are bioluminescent |
| Recent research shows that some species are not capable of producing light, and the sea gooseberry's own genus, Pleurobrachia, is named as the example | It was once assumed that all ctenophores are bioluminescent; however, recent research shows that some species (members of genus Pleurobrachia for example) are not capable of producing light. (note: ADW's own hedge kept: 'some species', with Pleurobrachia given as its example. The flat claim that this species cannot produce light was cut, because MarLIN's species page says of P. pileus's comb plates 'These plates are phosphorescent at night.') |
| comb jelly tentacles are armed with colloblasts, cells that discharge adhesive substances to aid in subduing prey | In species with tentacles, these structures are armed with colloblasts, cells that discharge adhesive substances to aid in subduing prey. |
| A Nerve Net With No Fixed Address on the Tree of Life | The relationships of ctenophores to other metazoan phyla remain an open question, with different analyses alternately finding sister lineage to cnidarians, bilaterians, a clade containing cnidarians, placozoans, and bilaterians, or to all other animal phyla. (note: Heading; the 'no fixed address' is ADW's open question about where ctenophores sit.) |
| There is no brain in this phylum, just a diffuse net of neurons | The ctenophore nervous system is a non-centralized net ... Ctenophores have a diffuse subepidermal net of non-polar neurons (note: 'no brain' is ADW's 'non-centralized net'; scope marked as the phylum in the sentence.) |
| Movement is coordinated by an apical sense organ containing a calcareous statolith | Movement is achieved through the use of cilial motion, coordinated by an apical sense organ containing a calcareous statolith. |
| a mineral grain that presses on tufts of cilia and tells the animal which way is up | Depending on the comb jellies' orientation, this statolith presses on one of four balancers (tufts of cilia supporting the statolith), causing the downside ctenes to beat more vigorously and right the animal. |
| The relationships of ctenophores to other animal phyla remain an open question | The relationships of ctenophores to other metazoan phyla remain an open question, with different analyses alternately finding sister lineage to cnidarians, bilaterians, a clade containing cnidarians, placozoans, and bilaterians, or to all other animal phyla. (note: 'animal phyla' for ADW's 'metazoan phyla'.) |
| Other analyses have instead placed them beside cnidarians, beside bilaterians, or beside a clade containing both | The relationships of ctenophores to other metazoan phyla remain an open question, with different analyses alternately finding sister lineage to cnidarians, bilaterians, a clade containing cnidarians, placozoans, and bilaterians, or to all other animal phyla. (note: ADW's third option is 'a clade containing cnidarians, placozoans, and bilaterians', rendered as 'a clade containing both'.) |
| Average ctenophore lifespans are barely recorded | While little information is available regarding average ctenophore lifespans (note: Blockquote lead-in.) |
| Individual species may have lifespans of anywhere from less than a month to three years | While little information is available regarding average ctenophore lifespans, individual species may have lifespans of anywhere from less than a month to three years. |
| pulses with rainbow diffraction along its beating ciliary comb rows, and not one flicker of it is bioluminescence | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: Tagline. The claim is about the rainbow itself, which ADW says is diffraction and 'not to be confused with bioluminescence'.) |
| Comb jellies swim using eight rows of fused, hair-like cilia called combs | eight rows of fused ciliary bands (ctenes) (note: faq 1; ADW's synapomorphy list for the phylum.) |
| the beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: faq 1.) |
| Comb jellies belong to the phylum Ctenophora, while true jellyfish belong to Cnidaria | Phylum Ctenophora, commonly known as comb jellies, includes 7 orders, with over 200 currently known species of biradially symmetrical, acoelomate organisms that resemble cnidarians. (note: faq 2. Jellyfish as Cnidaria: same page's glossary entry, 'Examples are cnidarians (Phylum Cnidaria, jellyfish, anemones, and corals).') |
| the relationships of ctenophores to other metazoan phyla remain an open question | The relationships of ctenophores to other metazoan phyla remain an open question, with different analyses alternately finding sister lineage to cnidarians, bilaterians, a clade containing cnidarians, placozoans, and bilaterians, or to all other animal phyla. (note: faq 2.) |
| the rainbow rippling down a comb jelly's comb rows is light diffraction, not a glow | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: faq 3.) |
| A Prism, Not a Light Bulb | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: Heading; the prism is the diffraction, the light bulb the bioluminescence ADW says not to confuse it with.) |
| One comb jelly genus, Haeckelia, does not have colloblasts, and instead uses sequestered nematocysts from its cnidarian prey | species of genus Haeckelia do not have colloblasts, and instead use sequestered nematocysts from their cnidarian prey |
| that beating diffracts light into ripples of colour with no glow behind them | The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. (note: task #625; vibe.reason mechanism, replacing 'sequential neon light' and 'floats through the deep'.) |

## Jager et al. (2010). New insights on ctenophore neural anatomy: Immunofluorescence study in Pleurobrachia pileus (Müller, 1776). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution.

https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.21386

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Studies of the sea gooseberry itself found two distinct nerve nets: a loose one spread through the jelly of the body, and a much more compact mesh in the outer skin layer | Two distinct nerve nets are distinguished: a mesogleal nerve net, loosely organized throughout body mesoglea, and a much more compact “nerve net” with polygonal meshes in the ectodermal epithelium. (note: Plain-language rendering for an 11-14 audience: mesoglea is the jelly of the body, ectodermal epithelium the outer skin layer. The study is on Pleurobrachia pileus.) |

## Ryan (2014). Did the ctenophore nervous system evolve independently? Zoology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zool.2014.06.001

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Recent evidence supports the placement of ctenophores as the most distant relative to all other animals | Recent evidence supports the placement of ctenophores as the most distant relative to all other animals. |
| either the common ancestor of every animal already had a nerve net like this one, or ctenophores developed theirs independently | This revised animal tree means that either the ancestor of all animals possessed neurons (and that sponges and placozoans apparently lost them) or that ctenophores developed them independently. |
| How the ctenophore nervous system relates to those of other animals is, in one researcher's words, "an unsolved, yet tractable problem." | the relationship between the nervous system of ctenophores and other animals is an unsolved, yet tractable problem. (note: Ryan's phrase is about the nervous system specifically, not about the branching order, so the sentence says so.) |

## Jager et al. (2013). Evidence for Involvement of Wnt Signalling in Body Polarities, Cell Proliferation, and the Neuro-Sensory System in an Adult Ctenophore. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084363

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Rebuilding Itself, One Tentacle at a Time | The tentacle root (tr), enclosed in the tentacle sheath, is responsible for constant regeneration of tentacle tissues. |
| The tissue at the base of each tentacle is responsible for constant regeneration of tentacle tissues | The tentacle root (tr), enclosed in the tentacle sheath, is responsible for constant regeneration of tentacle tissues. |
| Across the phylum, intense cell turnover takes place continuously in all regions of the body, and researchers credit ctenophores with high regenerative capacities | regulative processes are prevalent in the adult body of ctenophores, as indicated by their high regenerative capacities [57] , and by intense cell turnover taking place continuously in all regions of the body |