Cnidarians like anemones and jellyfish extend nematocysts, stinging organelles capable of shooting venom into another creature. The nematocysts are too small and move too quickly to be seen by the naked eye—but now they've been captured through a microscope with a high-speed camera.
Destin Sandlin of Smarter Every Day took the necessary camera equipment down to James Cook University to film a sea anemone—which has similar stinging structures to a jellyfish—in stinging action. It was the first time the researchers had seen nematocysts at work, and Sandlin has kindly shared the footage with the world via YouTube. So the next time you're stung by a jellyfish, you can at least picture what its nematocysts looked like as they stabbed into your flesh.
[via It's Okay to be Smart]