For Cassiopea, a crucial stage is the formation of the ephyra, or baby jellyfish, which then break away from the immature polyp before becoming adults. By examining how this union forms and fails, biologists aim to identify ways to fortify reefs increasingly endangered by global warming.Ĭorals and Cassiopea both undergo a life cycle that involves metamorphosis from an immature larval or polyp phase to an adult form. Over the last two decades, rising ocean temperatures have resulted in a 70 percent loss of coral cover in Caribbean reefs, mainly because of the breakdown of this critical relationship. 27 as part of the New Horizons in Science program presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing during the ScienceWriters2019 conference in State College, Pa., calls the symbiotic relationship between corals and the photosynthetic algae that provide them with nutrients the “fundamental unit of the reef.” Mónica Medina presenting her work at ScienceWriters2019. Gulf Coast, so that the algae dwellers on their underside can absorb sunlight from above. They are also sedentary for most of their life, attaching themselves upside down to rocks in the shallow waters of the U.S. Like corals, these jellyfish are soft-bodied, ocean-dwelling invertebrates that rely on symbiotic relationships with photosynthetic algae to survive. Until she turned to a more accessible species - Cassiopea xamachana, the upside-down jellyfish, which can thrive in a lab - to provide a faster route to understanding and supporting coral reef health. The creatures serve as a stand-in for corals off the southern coast of Florida that spawn once a year, seven days after a full moon, exactly three and a half hours after sunset - and at the height of Florida’s hurricane season.įor more than 10 years, Penn State University biologist Mónica Medina made hazardous annual pilgrimages to the Florida reefs to capture coral embryos during this narrow window of opportunity. In a paper published today in the journal Nature Communications Biology, the researchers named the structures "cassiosomes" and likened them to mobile grenades.Upside-down jellyfish growing in a lab in Pennsylvania could help protect endangered coral reefs in the world’s oceans. That's how they do it,'" said Collins, who works at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington. And so it was sort of obvious instantaneously, 'Ah! that's what happens. "They are these little sort of lumpy asteroid-shaped things, and all the protruding bumps are loaded with nematocysts. But when Collins, biologist Cheryl Ames, and their colleagues examined jellyfish mucus, they saw something much more complex. Nematocysts can sting even when removed from the jellyfish, so marine biologist Allen Collins had long assumed that stinging water was caused by nematocysts floating loose. Jellyfish sting using microscopic harpoonlike structures called nematocysts. Now, researchers have discovered that the mucus is full of tiny defenders that can swim under their own power and survive for up to 10 days. When these jellyfish feel disturbances in the water, they release large amounts of mucus. The culprit behind so-called stinging water is a type of jellyfish that spends most of its time upside-down on the ocean floor. At least, that's how it seems to human swimmers, who may leave such places covered in rashes despite taking care not to touch anything. (Inside Science) - In tropical waters amid the tangled roots of mangroves, there are places where the water itself can sting.
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