Authors: YanTao Wang Song Sun
Publish Date: 2014/09/04
Volume: 754, Issue: 1, Pages: 147-155
Abstract
The scyphozoan Aurelia aurita Linnaeus s l is a cosmopolitan speciescomplex which blooms seasonally in a variety of coastal and shelf sea environments around the world We hypothesized that ephyrae of Aurelia sp1 are released from the inner part of the Jiaozhou Bay China when water temperature is below 15°C in late autumn and winter The seasonal occurrence growth and variation of the scyphomedusa Aurelia sp1 were investigated in Jiaozhou Bay from January 2011 to December 2011 Ephyrae occurred from May through June with a peak abundance of 238 ± 056 ind/m3 in May while the temperature during this period ranged from 12 to 18°C The distribution of ephyrae was mainly restricted to the coastal area of the bay and the abundance was higher in the dock of the bay than at the other inner bay stations Young medusae derived from ephyrae with a median diameter of 974 ± 17 mm were present from May 22 Growth was rapid from May 22 to July 2 with a maximum daily growth rate of 39 Median diameter of the medusae was 16180 ± 1839 mm at the beginning of July In August a high proportion of deteriorated specimens was observed and the median diameter decreased The highest average abundance is 062 ± 106 ind/km2 in Jiaozhou Bay in August The abundance of Aurelia sp1 medusae was low from September and then decreased to zero It is concluded that water temperature is the main driver regulating the life cycle of Aurelia sp1 in Jiaozhou BayAssistance given by members of the Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station and the Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences is greatly appreciated We thank the anonymous referees for their constructive criticisms This research was supported by National Basic Research Program of China 973 Program No 2011CB403601 the National Natural Science Foundation of China 41121064 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China 41230963
Keywords: