PRODUCTIONS: STRANGE FRIENDSHIPS

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P. Cappellano, A. D'Onofrio, D. Cini, M. Visalberghi, M. Felli

SD Cinematografica

30'

16 mm

The main character in this story is a jellyfish known as the Rhizostoma pulmo. Our cameras followed it during its apparently casual wanderings along the Mediterranean coast. We also filmed its surprising reproductive cycle, from the moment when a tiny polyp founds a new colony of thousands of individuals, until the time when, majestic and elegant, the adult sails through the water like a suspended spaceship. During our journey, the jellyfish has an unusual encounter with some crabs of the Portunus genus. They lie in wait for and then suddenly attack the jellyfish in nimble leaps. The quickest - and luckiest - crab install itself under the umbrella of the jellyfish and uses it as a means of transport to new territories it seeks to conquer.
The sting systems developed by the various types of jellyfish are sophisticated war-machines that defend them against aggression. The sting are triggered immediately when their tentacles are brushed by an extraneous object.
A strong friendship binds the hermit crab to the sea anemone. It is what zoologists call mutual symbiosis. The crab transports the sea anemone here and there, offering it its left-over food in return for the anemone's service of scaring predators away with its poisonous stings. The documentary analyses in detail the complicated behaviour that has developed around this friendship.