Cassiopea xamachana: The Mangrove Jellyfish

The Mangrove Jellyfish is named for the Mangroves that it calls home. This species of jellyfish is unique in the fact that it spend most of its life upside-down. While often mistaken for a sea flower I would advise you not to touch it tentacles as they can still sting you.

These jellies are able to conserve energy due to the fact that they don’t not need to keep themselves afloat. Instead they lay bell first on the bottom with its tentacles facing upward. This allows them to form mutualistic relationships with other creatures for example, photosynthetic organisms such as dinoflagellates that will live in the tissues of the upside down jellyfish, and will share excess energy with the jellies. Depending on the habitat the Jellies will pick up different dinoflagellate which can determine the coloration, from brown to blue, in the tissues the dinoflagellate are present in.

Recently scientist have found crabs placing these jellyfish on to top of themselves and using the jellies as a source of protection since the jellies can still sting while also providing the jellies with transportation from one place to the next. The Mangrove Jellyfish is known to use both sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction depending on the conditions present in their habitats.  

In retrospect I find these creatures to be quite beautiful in person. The way they sway in the water is a tranquil site to see.  Their tentacles are much frillier than their relative the Upside-Down Jellyfish Cassiopea andromeda.  In the future I would like to potentially study these organisms to better understand the exchanges that take place between the jellies and their dinoflagellates, but that is for another day. 

Sources:

Louks, Laura, and Max Soda. "Upside-down Jellyfish (Cassiopea Xamachana)." Cassiopea Xamachana. BioWeb, 2014. Web. 13 June 2015. http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2014/soda_maxi/index.htm

Laman Tim." Wildlife Photojornalist Tim Laman Photo Gallery #5." Tim Laman. n/a. Web. 13 June 2015 "http://www.timlaman.com/#/photo-galleries/biodiversity-hotspots/Crab_with_Jellyfish