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Jellyfish Blooms: New Problems and Solutions pp 53–68Cite as

Effects of low salinity on settlement and strobilation of scyphozoa (Cnidaria): Is the lion’s mane Cyanea capillata (L.) able to reproduce in the brackish Baltic Sea?

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Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology 212 ((DIHY,volume 212))

Abstract

Several species of scyphozoan medusae occur in river estuaries and other brackish waters but it is often unknown if the planulae settle and the scyphopolyps reproduce in those low-salinity waters. In the present study, scyphozoan species from the German Bight (North Sea) were tested in laboratory experiments to investigate their tolerance of low salinity. Planula larvae released from medusae in salinity 32 were still active after the salinity was reduced to 10 (Cyanea capillata, Cyanea lamarckii) and to 7 (Chrysaora hysoscella) in laboratory treatments. Planulae did not settle on the undersides of floating substrates when salinity was reduced to <20. By contrast, planulae released from C. capillata medusae in Kiel Bight (western Baltic Sea) in salinity 15 developed into polyps in laboratory cultures. Polyps reared from planulae in salinity 36 survived a reduction to 12 (C. capillata, C. lamarckii) and to 8 (Aurelia aurita). Polyps of all tested species strobilated and released young medusae (ephyrae) in salinity 12. These results show a high tolerance of planulae and polyps to low salinity, indicating their possible occurrence in estuaries and brackish waters. In addition to laboratory observations, young C. capillata ephyrae were collected in the western Baltic Sea (Kiel Bight) in salinity 15, which indicates that they were probably released by a local polyp population. We suggest that the polyps of the painfully stinging lion’s mane, C. capillata, may be more widespread in the Baltic Sea than previously assumed and that the occurrence of the medusae may not only depend on inflow of water masses from the North Sea.

Guest editors: J. E. Purcell & Dror Angel / Jellyfish Blooms: New Problems and Solutions

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senckenberg am Meer, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research , c/o Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Sabine Holst

  2. Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Gerhard Jarms

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  1. Sabine Holst
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Correspondence to Sabine Holst .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Shannon Point Marine Center, Western Washington University, 1900 Shannon Point Rd, 98221, WA, Anacortes, USA

    Jennifer E. Purcell

  2. Coastal and Marine Resources Centre, University College Cork, Naval Base, Haulbowline Island, Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland

    Jennifer E. Purcell

  3. Department of Maritime Civilizations, Leon Recanati Institute of Maritime Studies, Haifa University, 31905, Mt Carmel, Haifa, Israel

    Dror L. Angel

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Holst, S., Jarms, G. (2010). Effects of low salinity on settlement and strobilation of scyphozoa (Cnidaria): Is the lion’s mane Cyanea capillata (L.) able to reproduce in the brackish Baltic Sea?. In: Purcell, J.E., Angel, D.L. (eds) Jellyfish Blooms: New Problems and Solutions. Developments in Hydrobiology 212, vol 212. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9541-1_5

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