A. Other modes of motion/locomotion in the Cnidaria 1. Use of floats, sails, etc. a. Hydrozoa-siphonophores 1. Portuguese Man-o-War (Physalia)--colonial organism, one polyp forms the float (pneumophore), others are suspended from the float. Gas can either be secreted into the float or released from the float. In times of turbulent weather, gas is released and colony sinks to depth where wave action is less. 2. Vellela (Sailor by the wind)--colony where one polyp forms a disk-shaped structure that has sail, other individuals are suspended from the undersurface of the disk 3. Some hydrozoans have cone-shaped medusae that are budded off from each other, but remain attached. Other polyps are attached to these structures. b. In many instances there is a difference in handed-ness relates to the fact whether the creatures live in the southern versus the northern hemisphere 2. Using the medusae form a. Scyphozoa 1. Animal has bell-shaped structure. Most of medusae consists of acellular materials that form the mesoglea of the creature. There are muscles, circular and radial, that can change the shape of the bell. Contraction of circular muscles makes bell smaller, increases the pressure on the fluid in the subumbrellar area which forces the fluid away from animal. This propulsion is a form of jet-propulsion, but very slow. 2. Animal moves very slowly upward by contractions of the bell and then takes advantage of gravity to drift downwards. Feeds as it falls in the the water column. b. Hydrozoan medusae 1. Function the same way, except that there are folds that extend from the side of the bell towards the middle and occludes the opening. This will produce larger forces 3. Medusae that don't necessarily act as medusae a. Clown jellys--attach themselves to seaweed by umbrellar surface. Edges of umbrellar surface extended as tentacles, each of which has a ball-shaped ending with lots of nematocysts b. Cassiopia--regular jelly that has symbiotic algae living in its tissues. As a result, the jellyfish lies upside down on the floor of shallow water lagoons in tropical/subtropical areas of the world.