Hawaii home to many kinds of jellies

STAR-ADVERTISER / 2005

Although the most common in Hawaii, the box jellyfish is not alone in local waters.

Hawaii is home to several types of jellyfish other than the infamous box jellyfish that sting swimmers after a full moon.

Saucer-shaped moon jellies and lagoon jellies with milder stings swim through the islands' harbors, lagoons and canals.

"I think most jellies, if not all jellies, have the ability to sting," said Kelley Niide, sea jelly expert at the Waikiki Aquarium. "It's just the degree of the sting, which depends on the food source."

She said most people would barely feel the mild sting of a moon jelly unless they have very sensitive skin.

The strength of the toxin is tied to what the jellyfish eat. For example, moon jellies eat very small zooplankton and don't need a powerful sting to get them while box jellyfish eat small fish and crustaceans and need a more powerful weapon to stun their prey.

Jellies typically have a short life span, but they can reproduce efficiently.

Male and female jellies release sperm and eggs that join together to form a flattened planula that swims and settles at the bottom of the ocean, attaching to a rock or shell and becoming a polyp that can reproduce asexually, creating multiple baby jellies all on its own.

Because of this polyp stage, aquariums are able to culture jellies without the complexities of breeding adult jellyfish in their tanks.

If you want to see lagoon jellies and moon jellies without venturing into the ocean, you can find them at the Waikiki Aquarium.

The Waikiki Aquarium breeds lagoon jellies and Atlantic sea nettles, which are not found in Hawaii.

On the Net

Track box jellyfish invasions at www.waquarium.org/boxjelly-calendar.html