Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.
Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus Symbiodinium, but some are known from the genus Amphidinium, and other taxa, as yet unidentified, may have similar endosymbiont affinities. The true Zooxanthella K.brandt is a mutualist of the radiolarian Collozoum inerme and systematically placed in Peridiniales. Another group of unicellular eukaryotes that partake in similar endosymbiotic relationships in both marine and freshwater habitats are green algae zoochlorellae.
Rhizostomeae is an order of jellyfish. Species of this order have neither tentacles nor other structures at the bell's edges. Instead, they have eight highly branched oral arms, along which there are suctorial minimouth orifices. These oral arms become fused as they approach the central part of the jellyfish. The mouth of the animal is also subdivided into minute pores that are linked to coelenteron.
Jellyfish Lake is a marine lake located on Eil Malk island in Palau. Eil Malk is part of the Rock Islands, a group of small, rocky, mostly uninhabited islands in Palau's Southern Lagoon, between Koror and Peleliu. There are about 70 other marine lakes located throughout the Rock Islands. Millions of golden jellyfish migrate horizontally across the lake daily.
Phyllorhiza punctata is a species of jellyfish, also known as the floating bell, Australian spotted jellyfish, brown jellyfish or the white-spotted jellyfish. It is native to the western Pacific from Australia to Japan, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It feeds primarily on zooplankton. P. punctata generally can reach up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in bell diameter, but in October 2007, one 72 cm (28 in) wide, perhaps the largest ever recorded, was found on Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
Cotylorhiza tuberculata is a species of jellyfish of the phylum Cnidaria, also known as the Mediterranean jellyfish, Mediterranean jelly, or fried egg jellyfish. It is commonly found in the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and Adriatic Sea.
The spotted jelly, lagoon jelly, golden medusa, or Papuan jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish from the Indo-Pacific oceans. Like corals, sea anemones, and other sea jellies, it belongs to the phylum Cnidaria. Mastigias papua is one of the numerous marine animals living in symbiosis with zooxanthellae, a photosynthetic alga. Mastigias papua is one of the numerous marine animals living in symbiosis with zooxanthellae, a photosynthetic algae.
Mastigias is a genus of true jellyfish in the family Mastigiidae. It contains seven described species. Members of this genus are found widely in coastal regions of the Indo-Pacific, including saline lakes of Palau, but there are also records from the West Atlantic at Florida and Puerto Rico. The West Atlantic records are most likely the result of accidental introductions by humans.
Cassiopea andromeda is one of many cnidarian species called the upside-down jellyfish. It usually lives in intertidal sand or mudflats, shallow lagoons, and around mangroves. This jellyfish, often mistaken for a sea anemone, usually keeps its mouth facing upward. Its yellow-brown bell, which has white or pale streaks and spots, pulsates to run water through its arms for respiration and to gather food.
Phyllodesmium is a genus of predatory sea slugs, aeolid nudibranchs, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Facelinidae.
Uet era Ongael is a marine lake located on Ongael Island, Koror, in Palau. There are about 70 other marine lakes located throughout the Rock Islands and Koror. Uet era Ongael is notable for endemic subspecies of golden jellyfish and is one of five marine lakes in Palau used for several scientific researches in evolutionary biology, the other lakes being Jellyfish Lake, Clear Lake, Uet era Ngermeuangel and Goby Lake.
Calvadosia cruxmelitensis is a stalked jellyfish which inhabits the intertidal and sublittoral zones of rocky coasts in south-western England and the Atlantic coast of Ireland.
Millepora alcicornis, or sea ginger, is a species of colonial fire coral with a calcareous skeleton. It is found on shallow water coral reefs in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean. It shows a variety of different morphologies depending on its location. It feeds on plankton and derives part of its energy requirements from microalgae found within its tissues. It is an important member of the reef building community and subject to the same threats as other corals. It can cause painful stings to unwary divers.
Triactis is a genus of sea anemone in the family Aliciidae. It is monotypic, having only one species – Triactis producta. This species is found in shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific where it lives on the seabed, rocks and corals. It derives much of its energy needs from the symbiotic algae it contains. It also forms a mutualistic relationship with small Lybia crabs.
Cassiopea xamachana, commonly known as the upside-down jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Cassiopeidae. It is found in warm parts of the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. It was first described by the American marine biologist Henry Bryant Bigelow in 1892.
The thimble jellyfish is a species of cnidarian found in the warm West Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean. It is a tiny jellyfish with a straight-sided, flat-topped bell. This jellyfish is the most common cause of seabather's eruption, a reaction caused by the injection of juvenile jellyfish nematocysts into human skin.
Linuche aquila is a species of cnidarian found in the tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific Ocean. It is very small and is commonly known as a thimble jellyfish because of its size and shape. The larvae can cause bathers to develop an itchy red rash commonly known as seabather's eruption.
Cassiopea ornata are one of many Cnidarian species called the upside-down jellyfish. This pelagic jellyfish primarily lives in tropical waters, off the coast of Australia in shallow lagoons and around mangrove trees. The name "upside-down jellyfish" comes from the fact that it appears to be upside-down in its natural state—resting on its bell. Its bell is a golden/brown color and the tentacles vary with different shades of yellow. While the sighting of this particular species is rare, it is usually mistaken for vegetation like the other species in genus Cassiopea.
The golden jellyfish is a subspecies of spotted jellyfish that inhabits Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk island in Palau in the western Pacific Ocean. Like the nominate subspecies, it derives part of its nutrition from symbiotic algae (Zooxanthellae) that live in their tissues and part of their nutrition from captured zooplankton.
Jennifer (Jennie) Dee Janssen is an aquarist at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2003, she has worked at the Tennessee Aquarium Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, Georgia Aquarium, and the National Aquarium, and she is a research associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. She is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Minorities in Aquarium and Zoo Science, whose mission is to advance aquarium and zoo science by diversifying the people and perspectives within these fields. She has been recognized with numerous awards including the Top 10 of the Blooloop 50 Zoo & Aquarium Influencer List in 2022.
