Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (16)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hansson, L. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Hansson, L. J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

JOURNAL OF PLANKTON RESEARCH | VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 | PAGES 195-208 | 1997
© Oxford University Press

research-article

Capture and digestion of the scyphozoan jellyfish Aurelia aurita by Cyanea capillata and prey response to predator contact

Lars Johan Hansson

Göteborg University, Kristineberg Marine Research Station S-450 34 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden

Received on April 2, 1996; accepted on September 9, 1996 Laboratory experiments, field observations and manipulative field experiments were carried out in 1993 in Gullmarsfjorden (Sweden) to study the interactions between two common species of scyphozoan jellyfish. Cyanea capillata was a predator on Aurelia aurita. Gut analyses on 70 specimens of C.capillata showed no size dependency in the ability to catch ≥1 specimen of A.aurita. However, large medusae of C.capillata caught a higher number of A.aurita than small ones. The average time for C.capillata diameter=11–20 cm) to fully digest one A.aurita (diameter=14–23 cm) in the laboratory was 38 h, but digestion was size dependent with regard to both prey and predator. Large C.capillata digested A.aurita faster than small specimens, and small medusae of A.aurita were digested faster than large ones. Calculations indicate that A.aurita may be an important source of carbon for C.capillata. After contact with C.capillata, the marginal tentacles of A.aurita contracted, the medusae directed themselves with the exumbrella upwards and the mean swim pulse frequency of A.aurita 30 s after contact increased by 46%. Aurelia aurita thereby moved up with an average speed of 0.96 m min–1.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J PLANKTON RESHome page
T. Weisse and M.-T. Gomoiu
Biomass and size structure of the scyphomedusa Aurelia aurita in the northwestern Black Sea during spring and summer
J. Plankton Res., February 1, 2000; 22(2): 223 - 239.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.