Jellyfish, corals, anemones… they have a couple things in common. They’re all cnidarians, and they all seem like they don’t really have a whole lot going on. They just sort of float around! But looks can be deceiving: this mysterious, blobby phylum holds many secrets!

Head to https://www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy your very own, genuine SciShow Tangents sticker!

A big thank you to Patreon subscriber Garth Riley for helping to make the show possible!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions! 

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @slamschultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Trivia Question]

Jellyfish with or against current

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6937341/

[Fact Off]

Moon jelly vortex

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/626033

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264056-jellyfish-push-off-a-pocket-of-water-under-their-bell-to-swim-faster/

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/jan-9-covid-19-and-fighting-viral-evolution-ice-age-wolf-pup-and-more-1.5865449/jellyfish-are-the-ocean-s-most-efficient-swimmers-here-s-how-they-do-it-1.5865457

Boxer crabs and sea anemones 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5289105/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274037895_Bonsai_anemones_Growth_suppression_of_sea_anemones_by_their_associated_kleptoparasitic_boxer_crab

^ pictures in both these links

[Ask the Science Couch]

Peeing on jellyfish sting

Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjTKKFSb9h8

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/9/3/105/htm?xid=PS_smithsonian

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-fix-jellyfish-sting-180963582/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/whats-behind-that-jellyfish-sting-2844876/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728541/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3773479/

[Butt One More Thing]

Coral - good poop (clam) bad poop (surgeonfish)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33841351/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33326418/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2020.621111/full