Effects of Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish swarms on caged gilthead sea bream

Abstract

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Annual Science Conference (ICES ASC 2014), Sustainability in a changing ocean, 15-19 September 2014, La Coruña.-- 2 pagesIn recent years, interactions between caged finfish and jellyfish have been increasingly reported, with major fish mortalities and severe economic impacts to aquaculture facilities. The scyphomedusa Pelagia noctiluca has been responsible for documented mortality events in Eastern Atlantic (Irish Sea) and the Mediterranean Sea. We investigated he impact of P. noctiluca stings on the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) in laboratory experiments. Fish were pulse-incubated for 8 hours with 3 different jellyfish densities in experimental tanks. Gill disorders were assessed through histological analyses at time intervals (0, 3, 9, 24, and 48 h, and 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks) after the pulse exposure to jellyfish. Our results demonstrated that P. noctiluca may severely affect caged sea bream gill integrity as soon as 3 h after interaction with jellyfish tissuesPeer Reviewe