Jellyfish In The Chesapeake Bay

Quick Facts

Species Type

Native

Size

Sea nettles and lion's mane jellyfish: 4 inch diameter; moon jellyfish: x to 12 inch diameter

Habitat

Establish throughout brackish and salty waters, including shallow waters, open waters and tidal rivers

Range

Sea nettles are abundant in May-October as far north as the Chesapeake Bay Span. Moon jellyfish visit the lower Chesapeake Bay in summer. Lion'south mane jellyfish are mutual in the Bay in tardily November-March.

Diet

Sea nettles and lion'south mane jellyfish feed on fish, shrimp and comb jellies; moon jellyfish eat plankton

Conservation Status

Stable

Appearance

3 species of jellyfish can be found in the Chesapeake Bay:

Sea nettles, Chrysaora quinquecirrha
Moon jellyfish or common jellyfish Aurelia aurita
Lion'south mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata

Jellyfish take a transparent, gelatinous torso and an umbrella-shaped bell called a medusa. Tentacles with stinging cells hang from the bell. The stinging cells are called nematocysts. Ocean nettles take a smooth, milky white bell that grows to about 4 inches in bore. Upwards to 24 tentacles hang from under the bell.

The moon jellyfish is the Bay's largest jellyfish. It can grow 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Hundreds of short tentacles hang like fringe from the bell's edge. The lion'south mane jellyfish has a wide, flattened bell and eight clusters of short tentacles. The bell is usually orangish-brown and grows to almost the same size as the sea nettle.

Feeding

Sea nettles and lion's mane jellyfish prey upon fish, shrimp, comb jellies and other small-scale creatures. They utilize their stinging tentacles to entangle, paralyze and capture their casualty. Each stinging jail cell is like a barb that injects venom into its prey. Jellyfish then apply their tentacles to motility the food into their mouth, which is located under the center of the bell. Moon jellyfish swallow plankton, including mollusks, crustaceans and copepods.

Predators

Many larger species, including fish, crustaceans and bounding main turtles, eat sea nettles.

Reproduction and Life Bike

Sea nettles spawn in mid-summer. They dice after spawning. Males release sperm into the water. Females' eggs are fertilized as they swim and pump water through their trunk. Afterwards fertilization, eggs develop into tiny, costless-swimming larvae called planulae, which the female releases into the water.

Larvae float with the currents for a few days, then settle and attach to a firm surface. The larvae blossom into anemone-like polyps that bud and grow over the winter. By spring, the polyps develop tiny, floating medusae that are layered on top of one another. The medusae are eventually released into the h2o. The freely floating medusae (chosen ephyra) eventually grow tentacles and mature into adults.

Did Y'all Know?

Jellyfish are macrozooplankton, the largest of the Bay'southward planktonic animals.
Jellyfish propel themselves through the h2o by rhythmically expanding and contracting their bells. However, they are not very skilful swimmers; jellyfish are mostly transported by wind and currents.
Sea nettles are almost ninety per centum water.
Wear a moisture suit or pantyhose when swimming to avoid receiving a painful jellyfish sting.

Sources and Additional Information

Life in the Chesapeake Bay by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert Fifty. Lippson
Chesapeake Bay: Nature of the Estuary, A Field Guide by Christopher P. White
Forecasting Sea Nettles – NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
Jellyfish of the Chesapeake – Maryland Bounding main Grant
Fauna Diversity Spider web: Aurelia aurita and Cyanea capillata – University of Michigan Museum of Zoology