January was spent setting up systems and lab work with jellyfish gametes.
First, I'll discuss the new system that was set up. Below are some pictures to illustrate the parts and function.
System 2
Illustrating the spinning motion
The system shown above functions off of a water input from the wet table, which turns a magnetic turntable. Inside of the glass, rounded container, there is a magnetic stirring rod, meant to keep a circular current. In essence, this container is similar to a Kreisel in its keeping a circular current, however this current is circular horizontally, rather than vertically. Nao helped me set up the system. There is a bubbler (not pictured) that keeps the water aerated, as well as providing some locomotion for the ephyrae. My greatest worry about this system is that ephyrae may become trapped near the stirring rod, however that is highly unlikely because of the stronger current near the stirring rod.
Nao and I also set up another Kreisel, which we will use as a control. The other Kreisel that is currently set up is going to be used to keep ephyrae immediately after strobilation, until we decide which systems to allocate them to. Below is a picture of the Kreisel we set up (nothing different than previous Kreisels).
Simple Kreisel
After setting up the Kreisel, Nao and I took samples from the main Jelly exhibit. In a previous video, Nao demonstrated how to sex the jellies. To harvest sperm and egg, we used the same method, except for a small pair of forceps used to take the sperm and egg pouches from underneath the bell. Afterwords, we took the samples to the lab for analysis under a microscope. Using a camera held up to the lense of the microscope, I was able to take some pictures of the gametes.
Egg marked with red arrow
Sperm circled. They are the blue dots. Tails are just barely visible, and appear as hair-like structures behind heads.
Lastly, some exciting news had developed in the realm of the jellyfish reproduction (from the polyps). Some small strobilation had occurred, so we were able to get 10 ephyrae! They have been distributed in the control, System 1 (Kreisel) and System 2 (rounded container), 5 in each. There was no preference given to any ephyrae based on size, color, etc. They were stuck in each system randomly.
This little guy is about 1/8 the size of a nickel
We are hoping for more success in the strobilation of the polyps. Only time will tell, though. With these 10 ephyrae, however, we can get an idea on the effectiveness of the two systems standing currently. If strobilation will not occur, Aaron and I have talked about using moon jelly ephyrae, as they are very easy to manipulate and obtain (the Georgia Aquarium has had much success in the past getting the moon jellies to strobilate). Hopefully, we won't need to do that, but it is merely another option.
First, I'll discuss the new system that was set up. Below are some pictures to illustrate the parts and function.
The system shown above functions off of a water input from the wet table, which turns a magnetic turntable. Inside of the glass, rounded container, there is a magnetic stirring rod, meant to keep a circular current. In essence, this container is similar to a Kreisel in its keeping a circular current, however this current is circular horizontally, rather than vertically. Nao helped me set up the system. There is a bubbler (not pictured) that keeps the water aerated, as well as providing some locomotion for the ephyrae. My greatest worry about this system is that ephyrae may become trapped near the stirring rod, however that is highly unlikely because of the stronger current near the stirring rod.
Nao and I also set up another Kreisel, which we will use as a control. The other Kreisel that is currently set up is going to be used to keep ephyrae immediately after strobilation, until we decide which systems to allocate them to. Below is a picture of the Kreisel we set up (nothing different than previous Kreisels).
Lastly, some exciting news had developed in the realm of the jellyfish reproduction (from the polyps). Some small strobilation had occurred, so we were able to get 10 ephyrae! They have been distributed in the control, System 1 (Kreisel) and System 2 (rounded container), 5 in each. There was no preference given to any ephyrae based on size, color, etc. They were stuck in each system randomly.