Featured Image Credit: Daniel Zupanc
By Natalie Helbling
Sea walnuts are not what you think they are. These marine creatures do not resemble walnuts in any way shape or form, but rather look very similar to jellyfish. One of the coolest things about sea walnuts or warty comb jellies are the colors that occur when these ctenophores move the plates that make up their body. When light is reflected off of the moving sea walnut, it displays a rainbow of colors that many confuse with bioluminescence.
Before the start of this month only one other aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, had successfully bred sea walnuts. Now one of the oldest zoos in the world, the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, has added their name to the list! The zoo’s caregivers worked extremely hard to provide the exact conditions for successful breeding. The zoo will now have about 50 new warty comb jellies in their exhibit. These beautiful, docile sea walnuts are memorizing to look at. Just look at them!
Although they provide great entertainment, the warty comb jellies are an invasive species to areas like the Mediterranean, Baltic Sea, Caspian Sea and others. They compete with local fish and have known to drastically alter the fish stock in many of these areas. The Vienna Zoo not only provides the chance for visitors to witness this species natural beauty, but to learn about the impacts invasive species can have on the environment.