Venus Girdle

Cestum veneris

The Venus Girdle belongs to the Ctenophore family, the "comb jellies" as they are called. This family does not sting as the Cnidarians do, rather they emit a gooey glue substance from the tentacles that sticks to their prey long enough for their long arms to enclose it and push the victim into their mouth. Biologists think this family is not as old as the Cnidarians and possibly related to the flatworms. The Venus Girdle has a flat ribbon like body that averages about a meter in length when full grown. Only two cell layers thick, the mouth/anus is located in middle with gonads forming a thicker ridge along the edges. Tiny comb like tentacles surround the mouth. Though translucent most of the time, Venus' Girdle can take on a slightly red hue to scare it off predators.

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