Purple-Striped Jellyfish

About Purple-striped jellyfish:

• Appearance: It usually appears a blue purple (mauve) colour with a globe shaped umbrella covered in orangey brown warts.
• Habitat: It is primarily pelagic or in the open ocean. However, this species can survive in benthic and temperate coastal habitats.
• Distribution: It is found worldwide in tropical and warm-temperature seas. It is mainly found in the Indo-Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
• Unique feature: Unlike other jellyfish species, it has stingers not just on the tentacles, but on the bell too. These are bioluminescent, having an ability to produce light in the dark.
• It is venomous and causes varying degrees of illness such as diarrhoea, extreme pain, vomiting and anaphylactic shock.
• A jellyfish bloom is when the population of the species increases dramatically within a short period of time, usually due to a higher reproduction rate.
  • According to marine biologists, jellyfish blooms are reported frequently as a result of rising ocean temperatures, one of the main causes of substantial population growth.

Q1:What is an algal bloom?

An algal bloom is the overgrowth of microscopic algae or algae-like bacteria in fresh, salt, or brackish waters.

Source : Venomous jellyfish blooms spotted along Visakhapatnam coast in Andhra Pradesh