Fresh Water Jelly Fish

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Freshwater Jellyfish
My species is the freshwater jellyfish. Its scientific name is Craspedacusta Sowerbyi. Taxonomically it is included in the kingdom of Animalia, the phylum of Cnidaria, the class of Hydrozoa, the order of Hydroida, the family of Olindiidae, the genus of Craspedacusta, and the species of Sowerbyi (Awake, 2004). Freshwater jellyfish occurrence is very sporadic and unpredictable. Some years they will be plentiful and other years they will absent. They are usually observed in their medusa or jellyfish stage and are found in the late summer or early fall.
The C. sowerbyi is thought to have originated in China, in the Yangtze Valley. The occurrence of the jellyfish is so regular in the spring they are given the name “peach blossom fish.” The first report of encountering the jellyfish was in a water lily tank in London in 1880. It is thought that the C. sowerbyi was carried throughout the world by water hyacinths and ornamental water plants. The jellyfish were first discovered in the U.S. in 1908, and is now known in at least thirty-five states and most eastern large river systems (Harris, N.D.). The species is present in temperate climates almost globally and commonly occurs on five continents; South and North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia (Acker and Muscat, 1976).
The freshwater jellyfish is easily overlooked and isn’t usually acknowledged by the common person. Even though this species isn’t rare, their appearance is sporadic and smoetims reported as a local news items by newspapers (Sasaki, 1999). The jellyfish can’t sting or hurt a human because their nemotocysts or stinging structures can’t penetrate human skin. They eat zooplankton and other vigorous prey such as copepods. Crayfish are considered the only important predator of the freshwater jellyfish (McKercher, O’Connell, and Fuller, 2003). They don’t really make an impact unless they are in a period of abundance. The...