Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1899-06-08
HONE OF TIE WHITE SHRIMP.
In the Spring II Takes I'D Its Lodg-
ings in the stomach Of the
MeduSa.

IL q boat Is a1chOr60 IN any one OF
the channels which separate the quick
sands of the mouth of the Thames.
when the tide is running fast during
calm summer weather. mulfitudes Of
Jelly fish may be seen floating just be-
low the surface. Some are no bigger
than teacups, and they all have some
curious markings on the top. and move
by contracting and expanding the low
er parts of their bodies
Hour after hour these beautiful
things float by, and their numbers are
incalculable. If one is caught with
the hands, the fingers usually perforate
its jelly-like structure, and If ii is
placed on board the creature seems TO
run away in the form OF water
Now a great many of the larger
kinds. when carefully examined, are
found TO have within their large stom-
achs a small white shrimp with most
beautiful emerald colored eyes. 1t was
supposed that these shrimps formed
the food of the jelly fish or medusae,
as they are properly called, but care
full investigation proved that these live
~ little creatures with beautiful eyes
that they make the stomach of these
wandering masses of animal jelly their
home and harder.
The shrimp soon dies If taken from
its shelter, and specimens of ii are
never found swimming with the COM
mon shrimps which live in the sea
around our coasts. The shrimp lives at
the expense OF the jelly fish, and feeds
upon some of the small creatures which
are entangled by the peculiar structure
Of its mouth.
The jelly fish floats along collecting
food. and killing every small living
thing that touches its singing body.
whilst the shrimp enjoys itself and lives
inside, out of danger. and in great COM
fort
The shrimp swims in and out, and
is never harmed by the deadly poison
of the wonderful sharp stings of the
medusa.
Now the most wonderful part of the
singular history is how the jelly fish
and the shrimp come together. There
are no jelly fish in the winter and early
spring. and the whole of them die il
the autumn shrimps and all Before
dying the shrimp leaves the stomach
Of the jelly fish, and lays its eggs at
the bottom OF the shallow sea.
The jelly fish lays thousands of tiny
eggs, which being covered with small.
movable hairs, row themselves into
quiet. rocky hooks on the coast and
settle down. These eggs become adj
herent to pieces oE shell or stone. and
do not turn TO jelly fishes any more
than butterfy's egg turns TO butter
fly.
4 stem springs from them, and
branches arise from it all covered with
tiny cups. whose rims are crowned
with small arms. called tentacles. This
IS the first stage Of a jelly fsh's life.
Now the shrimp's egg matches about
the same time as the stem just men
toned begins to grow, and the young
shrimp is not at all like the old one;
II has a big head. small body. and
very long legs In the first part of their
existence the jelly fish and the shrimp
are separate. and unlike what they
subsequently turn TO. As the warm
weather comes on, the stem with its
branches and cup-like ends begins to
bud, and after awhile out of the buds
spring lively jelly fish, which soon
swim of. About this time the young
shrimp casts of its skin and grows
into the form of the old one, and inyari-
ably seeks shelter in the stomach of the
first young jelly fish it comes across
in its swimming TO and fro.
This extraordinary circle OF events
goes on year after year, and the rea-
son why the young shrimp should seek
an animal totally unlike itself and very
fatal to other shrimps is one of those
things in nature that no one can IN
derstand-
Certainly no other kind of shrimp
could live in the medusa's stomach
Detroit Free Press.