My Theory On The Anatomy Of A Air Jellyfish....type thing

[Angus A Fitziron]

Well I thought I had fun at work, but Festo looks just awesome. Thanks TS

[Sgt.Major Thistlewaite]

Ladies, Gents, et al,

I've just read this entire thread, and what it leaves me wondering is why Nature hasn't evolved such a creature, as the concept certainly seems entirely feasible. Nature's development of flight seems entirely built around wings of one sort or another...try as I might, I cannot think of a single creature, extant or extinct, that utilizes any other sort of lifting device...but why? A Nature that can devise creatures that generate electricity( eels etc.,) produce light(lightning bugs, many sea creatures,)use chemical warfare (skunks,some ants,)and poison (many)...not to mention coming up with a living thing as unlikely as a platypus, an egg laying mammal with a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver, and a poisonous spur ...hasn't ever devised an alternative method of flight? The only things I could come up with were baby spiders, which let out silk and let the wind carry them, and plants like thistles, whose seeds are also wind borne...can anyone think of anything else?

T.E.T.

[Danbury Shakes]

I agree that it is strange that nature couldn't come up with, for example, a creature that floats upon the eather on an inflated bag of gas.  However if such a thing had evolved then we have to take into account
1.  that the fossil record does not record soft tissue so well, and the gas bag would be lost to history whilst the boney skeletal remains may look like a fish or serpent.
2. any creature that relies on a bag of gases would be reliant on the wind for direction and would therefore be susceptible to more nimble predators.

If such a creature had evolved they may have been hunted out of existence, with the fossil record showing nothing of their special adaptations.  This could explain why the fossils of fish type creatures have been found upon the top of mountains.

[David Godfrey Esq.]

This could explain why the fossils of fish type creatures have been found upon the top of mountains.

I don't quite understand what you're saying here. (It is early morning after all). But plate tectonics explains why you find marine deposits on top of mountains. I don't think its related to the sad lack of airborne jellyfish.

[Angus A Fitziron]

This could explain why the fossils of fish type creatures have been found upon the top of mountains.

I don't quite understand what you're saying here. (It is early morning after all). But plate tectonics explains why you find marine deposits on top of mountains. I don't think its related to the sad lack of airborne jellyfish.

....but we can't discount the possibility.....

I suspect sea jelly fish are either filter feeders or scavengers. So an air equivalent would probably filter feed swarming insects, hoovering up vast colonies of ants in one mouthful; however scavenging aerial lifeforms requires a bit more thinking about, as the theory of gravity would suggest few if any bodies remain airborne after death.

[Arvis]

I suspect sea jelly fish are either filter feeders or scavengers. So an air equivalent would probably filter feed swarming insects, hoovering up vast colonies of ants in one mouthful

 Wow, If they will eat the Texas fire ant (not indigenous to Texas oddly enough) then I'll take a dozen of em!
 I believe Mr. Fitziron to be the closest in his answer as to why we do not have a flying jellyfish. There is simply nothing to eat in the upper atmosphere. The same cannot be said about the open ocean. The sea and any body of water for that matter can be a sort of biological soup. A "pot luck" of what ever happens by live or dead. Not all dead things sink straight to the bottom as happens on our terrestrial plane. Fishiecorpses (and the occasional human) can generate gasses during purification that cause the body to "float" or at least achieve "neutral buoyancy" becoming a ready food supply suspended in the "aquatic atmosphere".
 There is hope however, several years ago I ran into an interesting tidbit about "flying rods".

I'm a bit surprised with myself for not having thought of this sooner, but here you go.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=flying+rods+footage+video+camera&fr=yfp-t-501-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

This should make nearly anyone want to don their pith helmet and embark on a cryptozoological expedition. If memory serves, they seem to be attracted to fast moving objects. (boomerangs have been known to summon them)





>

[Atterton]

I´m afraid those Roswell Rods as they have been called, seems to be merely camera artifacts from filming fast insects in low light conditions.

[Arvis]

I´m afraid those Roswell Rods as they have been called, seems to be merely camera artifacts from filming fast insects in low light conditions.

 SHUN THE NON BELIEVER!!!!   

[Danbury Shakes]

This could explain why the fossils of fish type creatures have been found upon the top of mountains.

I don't quite understand what you're saying here. (It is early morning after all). But plate tectonics explains why you find marine deposits on top of mountains. I don't think its related to the sad lack of airborne jellyfish.

Er, this is a topic on airbourne jellyfish in a forum which quite often talks about the air kraken whilst posing with their Victorian ray guns.

Reality is not a necessity  .

[Judicator]

LOl,i just noticed that we have been calling them Air Jellyfish which is contradicting in itself,more like Air Jellies,that actually makes us sound like we know what we are talking about.Also i have been wondering about the fossil thing,wouldn't someone notice nowadays if a giant semi-transparent blob of mass fell from the sky and landed on their barn?Maybe when they die the automatically send off an electric pulse catching their gases on fire and burning up while they are still in the sky,or maybe they are immortal and can be killed but not die naturally

[Arvis]

LOl,i just noticed that we have been calling them Air Jellyfish which is contradicting in itself,more like Air Jellies,that actually makes us sound like we know what we are talking about.Also i have been wondering about the fossil thing,wouldn't someone notice nowadays if a giant semi-transparent blob of mass fell from the sky and landed on their barn?Maybe when they die the automatically send off an electric pulse catching their gases on fire and burning up while they are still in the sky,.......

 I LIKE IT!!!  As a matter of fact... skip the whole envelope, with gas.... lets say it's more of a marshmallowy foam. An exotic material that exhibits lighter than air capabilities only in "solid" form. Your ludicrously huge and overloaded (cannon laden) airships now become feasible because of these "harvested" jellie's. The trick is harvesting the air jellie's with out setting them off! 

Just a thought. (I just got home from work and I'm a bit sleepy. so if this just seems like some weird rant, pay it no mind)


Oh, and for those of you still somewhat capable of thought (myself excluded for the time being) I found something of mild intrest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.fossilmall.com/Stonerelic/trace%20fossils/ichno7/ichnofossil7.htm

[Angus A Fitziron]

So, they do leave an imprint the fossil record! However, I suspect a fossil over 200 feet in diameter would be hard to spot? Maybe David can help us here?
As to it being made of Aerogel floating marshmallow, it would still need internal sacs which it could inflate / deflate with air, to adjust its overall bouancy and control its altitude. (hey bouy, you've got a bad altitude there!).
Final thought for the morning (got a bottle to unstopper) maybe when they die, if they were made of floating marshmallow (hmmm... need a more concise name for it) then when they die, the muscles controlling the airsacs, constrict them, causing the jelly UFO to rise until it reaches equilibrium somewhere in the lower stratosphere. Assuming it does not get splatted to bits by a passing passenger jet, it just floats there, decomposing and feeding the lifeforms that live in that part of the atmosphere (I know it surprised me, the stratosphere is part of the biosphere, wiki said so!)

[Atterton]

"wouldn't someone notice nowadays if a giant semi-transparent blob of mass fell from the sky"

They have. Look up pwdre ser, the so called rot of the stars.

[Matthias Gladstone]

"wouldn't someone notice nowadays if a giant semi-transparent blob of mass fell from the sky"

They have. Look up pwdre ser, the so called rot of the stars.

Nah, thats just aerogel (or so akumabito tells me anyway )
As for preservation in the fossil record, fine detail can be preserved in shales and other fine grained sedimentary rocks. The Burgess shale in Canada is one such example, thinks of unparalled detail have been found there.
-Matt

[akumabito]

LOl,i just noticed that we have been calling them Air Jellyfish which is contradicting in itself,more like Air Jellies,that actually makes us sound like we know what we are talking about.Also i have been wondering about the fossil thing,wouldn't someone notice nowadays if a giant semi-transparent blob of mass fell from the sky and landed on their barn?Maybe when they die the automatically send off an electric pulse catching their gases on fire and burning up while they are still in the sky,.......

 I LIKE IT!!!  As a matter of fact... skip the whole envelope, with gas.... lets say it's more of a marshmallowy foam. An exotic material that exhibits lighter than air capabilities only in "solid" form. Your ludicrously huge and overloaded (cannon laden) airships now become feasible because of these "harvested" jellie's. The trick is harvesting the air jellie's with out setting them off! 

Just a thought. (I just got home from work and I'm a bit sleepy. so if this just seems like some weird rant, pay it no mind)


Oh, and for those of you still somewhat capable of thought (myself excluded for the time being) I found something of mild intrest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://www.fossilmall.com/Stonerelic/trace%20fossils/ichno7/ichnofossil7.htm

Now what if they're nothing like jellyfish at all, but more akin to coral reefs? Instead of a single organism, it could be a symbiotic entity comprised of many billions of solid-structured lighter-than-air organisms. You could have different species of sky-corals, giving the colony different shades of color so it would appear nearly indistinguishable from regular clouds.. only the outer crust of the 'reef' would actually be alive, the center would be the solid remains of past generations, locked inside and still retaining their lighter-than-air properties to help keep the reef afloat..

Other species could live on the reef.. maybe insects, birds, or bats.. or even air-kraken if the reef were large enough.. they could be part of the symbiotic relationship.. the sky-reef would be their safe haven, while in return their droppings provide some of the nourishment for the reef.. 

EDIT: You can have airship manufacturers wanting to mine the reefs! Steampunk environmentalists protesting and trying to hijack/damage their mining rigs.. or mad scientists trying to breed these organisms in captivity to make a gazillion bucks.. plenty of ideas for a few stories

[Arvis]

 Indeed, I'm finding these ideas "intriguing" to say the least. It's beginning to sound like the world of "Jasper Morello". Great drifting "cloud reefs" nearly indistinguishable from actual clouds requiring sonar/radar for navigation. Possibly rockets or some tethered projectile to act as sounders at times. (*poke poke*" be ye cloud or be ye reef?") Cloud shrimp, cloud crabs and cloud fish. Beware the CLOUD ANEMONE! Imagine finding a derelict airship wrecked on a cloud reef overgrown in cloud coral home to some lost ancient technology.
 Shux, gotta head for work. I look forward to seeing others ideas. 

[Atterton]

There´s always Fort´s idea of a Sargasso of the skies.

[Judicator]

Now what if they're nothing like jellyfish at all, but more akin to coral reefs? Instead of a single organism, it could be a symbiotic entity comprised of many billions of solid-structured lighter-than-air organisms. You could have different species of sky-corals, giving the colony different shades of color so it would appear nearly indistinguishable from regular clouds.. only the outer crust of the 'reef' would actually be alive, the center would be the solid remains of past generations, locked inside and still retaining their lighter-than-air properties to help keep the reef afloat..

Other species could live on the reef.. maybe insects, birds, or bats.. or even air-kraken if the reef were large enough.. they could be part of the symbiotic relationship.. the sky-reef would be their safe haven, while in return their droppings provide some of the nourishment for the reef.. 

EDIT: You can have airship manufacturers wanting to mine the reefs! Steampunk environmentalists protesting and trying to hijack/damage their mining rigs.. or mad scientists trying to breed these organisms in captivity to make a gazillion bucks.. plenty of ideas for a few stories

Thats different from air jellies though....who says they cant all exist?Maybe(like normal aquatic animals)there are variations for the same thing.

[Judicator]

AHHHHHHHH i looked up pwdre ser and it gave me an idea,they evaporate!!!1

[Angus A Fitziron]

Now what if they're nothing like jellyfish at all, but more akin to coral reefs? Instead of a single organism, it could be a symbiotic entity comprised of many billions of solid-structured lighter-than-air organisms. You could have different species of sky-corals, giving the colony different shades of color so it would appear nearly indistinguishable from regular clouds.. only the outer crust of the 'reef' would actually be alive, the center would be the solid remains of past generations, locked inside and still retaining their lighter-than-air properties to help keep the reef afloat..

Other species could live on the reef.. maybe insects, birds, or bats.. or even air-kraken if the reef were large enough.. they could be part of the symbiotic relationship.. the sky-reef would be their safe haven, while in return their droppings provide some of the nourishment for the reef.. 

EDIT: You can have airship manufacturers wanting to mine the reefs! Steampunk environmentalists protesting and trying to hijack/damage their mining rigs.. or mad scientists trying to breed these organisms in captivity to make a gazillion bucks.. plenty of ideas for a few stories

Thats different from air jellies though....who says they cant all exist?Maybe(like normal aquatic animals)there are variations for the same thing.

Yes, I agree Judicator ~ I think your initial theory has exposed a whole new ecosystem with many different life forms. Congratulations my good sir on your discovery!

[Judicator]

Um.......Thank You?Do I get a Nobel Prize?

[Angus A Fitziron]

You're very welcome..
No most improbable....

[Judicator]

But not impossible.....

[Angus A Fitziron]

But not impossible.....

  C

[Judicator]

But not impossible.....

  C

I dont get it...........