Jellyfish world

Edible marine organisms are consumed around the world. More exotic creatures such as sea cucumber, jellyfish, sea urchins, and abalone are widely consumed in Asia and have more recently been introduced into the international cuisine. 

The Box Jellyfish is found in the coastal waters of northern Australia but not on the Great Barrier Reef. It is the most dangerous jellyfish, and one the deadliest venomous creatures, in the world. It is a large jellyfish, weighing up to 13 pounds and measuring about 7" to ii" across the dome while the tentacles can droop about 6 from the base. It is transparent in the water, and difficult to see, imposing a -10 to any attempts at detecting the creature. 

It is very rare in the living world to find creatures which have only rotational symmetry. An example from the animal world is the jellyfish (Figure 2-19d [2-7]). Such exclusively rotational symmetry may be a consequence of preferential rotational motion in capturing food. 

Jellyfish present both opportunities and challenges for the aquaculture industry. They can produce economic gains or losses. In the first section, we review the fisheries and culture of jellyfish for human food, multi-miUion-dollar industries with markets currently centered in Asia. Interest in jellyfish has increased around the world in recent decades, both for public aquarium exhibition, where they offer economic and educational opportunities, and for scientific study, because the problems jellyfish cause have increased in coastal waters. Thus, in the second section, we present guidelines for culture conditions and tank construction for display or study of 27 jellyfish species. Although some jellyfish species benefit human health and economics, most are considered to be harmful, resulting in many millions of dollars in costs annually. Human problems with jellyfish include stinging and the costs associated with prevention, treatment, and loss of tourism. 

In recent decades, interest in rearing jellyfish has increased, in part due to success of the incredible exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium that opened in 1992. Jellyfish exhibits have become a relatively common sight in public aquaria around the world and hobbyists are interested in keeping them as pets. More recently, concern in the public, industrial, and government... 

Because jellyfish have provided beautiful and popular aquarium exhibits, and because their populations and the problems they cause for humans appear to be increasing around the world, interest in rearing and exhibiting jellyfish is likely to increase. 

Table 133 Published reports of jellyfish interferiiig with aquaculture operations around the world. ...

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