The spotted jelly, lagoon jelly, golden medusa, or Papuan jellyfish is a species of jellyfish from the Indo-Pacific. Instead of one single mouth, they have several smaller mouth openings in their oral arms, which are used to feed on zooplankton.
They have a lifespan of approximately 4 months and are active primarily in mid-summer to early autumn.
Similar species: Root-mouth Jellies
By Albert Kang
All rights reserved
Uploaded Nov 24, 2019. Captured Nov 21, 2019 15:34.
comments (5)
Posted 5 years ago
Unlike most jellyfish, the spotted jelly (Mastigias papua) does not have stinging tentacles. Composed of 95% water, its body has a simply has a bell with eight arms, which are covered with multiple mouths. It calls the Indo-Pacific Ocean home, where it mostly inhabits shallow, coastal waters.
Most jellyfish are hunters, using their stinging tentacles to catch prey. The spotted jelly can capture prey with its arms, but this only accounts for 30% of its diet. The rest of its nutritional needs are met in unique way. It has a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic zooxanthellae, which are unicellular organisms that settle in the tissues of the jellyfish! The zooxanthellae share the products of photosynthesis with the jellyfish, while the jellyfish provide the zooxanthellae with nutrients derived from seawater.
Another peculiarity of the spotted jelly, albeit a necessary one, is that it is a “sun worshipper”. In order to make sure that the zooxanthellae receive enough sunlight for photosynthesis, the spotted jelly performs a daily migration by following the sun across the sky. The jelly moves up in the water column as the sun rises, swims towards it, basks in the light, and then travels back down the water column once the sun sets to await the dawning of a new day. {Spotted in the Philippines by JungleDragon moderator, Albert Kang} #JungleDragon #Jellyfish #Spottedjelly #Mastigiaspapua Posted 5 years ago