Fig. 8

The formation of nematocysts without adhesive organ formation. a–i Images of the second branch (Branch②) on different days without (a-c) and with (d-i) ablations. For ablation, a distal part of the medusa tentacle including the first branch (Branch①) was cut off on Day 5 (d) or Day 6 (g) as indicated by the red broken line in a. The second branch (Branch②) remained with the main body, as shown by the yellow arrowheads in d and g. The functional status of branches are indicated by colored numbers in the same way as Fig. 6. The insets are blown-up images of Branch② with nematocyst clusters denoted with white arrowheads. By Day 8, the “no cut” Branch② acquired functional adhesive organs (b and Fig. 6u), but the ablated second branches did not (e and h). However, they formed functional nematocysts on the same day as “no cut” Branch② (c, f and i). Scale bars: 200 μm. j A table showing the number of branches with either function that were formed by Day 11, and on the day on which functional nematocysts were acquired for the first time