This week&
17;s update is about our newest exhibit. It features a species of planktonic jellyfish.
Periodically, my boss goes to collect wild shrimp (Mysidae) to feed our Pacific seahorses. We keep them stored in a tank (pictured above) until it&
17;s feeding time, but sometimes, we&
17;ll get animals we weren&
17;t trying to catch. Our accidental catches range from amphipods to pipefish larva, but the most common example is Vallentinia adherens. Their numbers got really high after a while&
30;
&
30;So in response, my boss decided to give them their own tank. We feed them brine shrimp, and they no longer get in our way when he feed the seahorses.
At first my coworkers and I thought these were jellyfish larvae, and visitors tend to make the same assumption. But they&
17;re definitely adults, and now they&
17;ve gone from an accidental catch to a featured species. Hopefully the baby pipefish will get a tank when they&
17;re older.
-Kamran