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  • Accepted Manuscript: Species Composition and Distribution of Jellyfish in a Seasonally Hypoxic Estuary, Hood Canal, Washington
Title: Species Composition and Distribution of Jellyfish in a Seasonally Hypoxic Estuary, Hood Canal, Washington
Seasonal hypoxia (≤2 mg dissolved oxygen L−1) can have detrimental effects on marine food webs. Recent studies indicate that some jellyfish can tolerate low oxygen and may have a competitive advantage over other zooplankton and fishes in those environments. We assessed community structure and distributions of cnidarian and ctenophore jellyfish in seasonally hypoxic Hood Canal, WA, USA, at four stations that differed in oxygen conditions. Jellyfish were collected in June through October 2012 and 2013 using full-water-column and discrete-depth net tows, concurrent with CTD casts to measure dissolved oxygen (DO). Overall, southern, more hypoxic, regions of Hood Canal had higher abundances and higher diversity than the northern regions, particularly during the warmer and more hypoxic year of 2013. Of fifteen species identified, the most abundant—the siphonophore Muggiaea atlantica and hydrozoan Aglantha digitale—reached peak densities > 1800 Ind m−3 and 38 Ind m−3, respectively. M. atlantica were much more abundant at the hypoxic stations, whereas A. digitale were also common in the north. Vertical distributions explored during hypoxia showed that jellyfish were mostly in the upper 10 m regardless of the oxycline depth. Moderate hypoxia seemed to have no detrimental effect on jellyfish in Hood Canal, and may have resulted in more » high population densities, which could influence essential fisheries and trophic energy flow. « less
Authors:
;
Award ID(s):
1657992
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10169115
Journal Name:
Diversity
Volume:
12
Issue:
2
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
53
ISSN:
1424-2818
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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