gone jelly-fishin'

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At my Look & Learn Sunday at Ijams yesterday, we explored the ephemeral world of freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii). The small medusae are here one day and gone the next.

The medusae are the sexual form of cnidarian in which the body is shaped like an umbrella.

Currently, the penny-sized jellies are in Mead's Quarry Lake and will probably remain there in their medusa form until after Labor Day and the weather and water temperature cools. This is the final part of their lifecycle were the free swimming males and females need to find each other and it is important they get as much time as they need. After all, it's a 25-acre lake.

Thanks to all who attended.

For more information about freshwater jellyfish get my newest book, Ephemeral by Nature published by the University of Tennessee Press.

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