(“middle jelly”). On the underside of the jellyfish’s body is an opening serving a dual fold purpose: to eat and expel waste. In the Chesapeake Bay there are three types of jellyfish that are common: the moon jelly (Aurelia aurita), the lion’s mane (Cyanea capillata), and the sea nettle (Chrysaora quinquecirrha). The largest is the moon jellyfish, which can grow up to one foot. It has a transparent, flat disk with a four-leaf clover design (reproductive organs) visible through the bell. With its shorter tentacles, the moon jelly delivers a very mild sting. Fortunately for swimmers, the lion’s mane, another of the stinging varieties, is not present during the summer months. Rather, it is present in Tidewater Virginia during winter and spring. It is orange- brown in color with relatively short tentacles. Often, masses of these jellyfish drift into in fishermen’s nets, getting tangled and adding weight as they are dragged into boats.
By far the most well known of the Bay jellies is the sea nettle, often referred to as the stinging nettle. In the middle Bay and its tributaries, stinging nettles can be identified by their milky white color while in the lower Bay they are characterized by red/maroon markings. Hanging from the center are four oral arms used for passing food to the mouth. Their tentacles can trail several feet, so keep your distance!
Diet and Food Web
Stinging nettles usually grow to 6–8 inches in diameter and are voracious predators. Carnivorous, they feed continuously on zooplankton, but also eat bay anchovy eggs, worms, and young minnows. Jellyfish will paralyze their prey with poisonous venom once it becomes entangled in their tentacles, making it easy for them to consume.
Even though they can be found as far north as Cape Cod and as far south as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, stinging nettles are most concentrated in the Chesapeake Bay. An estuary rich in plankton, the Bay is full of copepods (small crustaceans) and comb jellies— jellyfish favorites. As part of the food web, they help to keep smaller crustacean zooplankton populations “in check,” as well as help control the comb jelly population in the Bay.
The House & Home Magazine 25
Chrysaora quinquecirrha Made up of 90% water, a jellyfish
is no more than a morsel for most fish; however, spadefish, butterfish, sea turtles, spider crabs and other jelly plankton depend upon it for food. Some of these species have formed symbiotic
relationships; for example the butterfish, are immune to the venom in the stinging cells and can therefore swim in and out of its tentacles. Furthermore, the spider crab will sometimes “hitch a ride” by burrowing in the top of the medusae’s bell.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100