Developing jellyfish strategy hypotheses using circulation models

Little information exists relating life histories of jellyfish species to o cean currents. Successful cycling from sessile polyp to mature jellyfish an d back must doubtlessly rely on circulation patterns that serve to retain t he species in an optimum environment or disperse the species for other adap tive advantages. In this study, current vectors from a high resolution nume rical model of the Gulf of Mexico are applied to a simple advection scheme to develop estimates of time and distance scales from probable polyp habita ts to areas in which mature scyphomedusae are observed in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Although seasonal patterns of wind stress form the basis for ci rculation processes that favour shoreward distribution of medusae of oceani c origin, this dynamic may be altered by deep basin events that occur durin g critical life history stages. Inter-annual differences in distributional patterns of the sea nettle, Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Desor 1848), in Missis sippi coastal waters could be explained by Loop Current processes that alte r shelf circulation in the Mississippi Bight.