Tripedalia Cystophora Essay

What is the role and purpose of the many eyes found on the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora?

Introduction: The box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora is a small jellyfish that can be at least 1cm long. Its bell is shaped somewhat like a square, which give it the name “box” jellyfish. Each of the four bottom corners of the bell have three tentacles. Even though it is in the same family as the sea wasp, T. cystophora is harmless. This jellyfish has been observed living in mangrove swamps where it stays in the light near the surface and feeds on copepods like Dioithona oculata. T. cystophora is diurnal, so it is actively feeding and moving about during the day, and at night, it rests on the muddy floor of the mangrove swamps. The taxonomy

The article talks about how the group of researchers wanted to figure out the purpose of the eyes, so they decided to look at “the upper lens eye” of the species Tripedalia cystophora. The researchers performed several experiments where they looked at the behaviors of the jelly fish, how the four eyes functioned, how the jellies reacted when they were moved to a different location, and how the eyes were oriented. For the tests on behavior, the scientists tested 15 jellies in three separate groups in different locations in a lagoon. “Five medusae were collected and tested on the northern shore on the lagoon, five were collected and tested on the southern shore, and five were collected on the northern shore but tested on the southern shore”. They put the jellies in tanks and moved them farther and farther away from the shores to see how they would react to being moved out from under the mangrove canopy. Through this experiment and the others, the scientists were able to conclude that “visual detection of the mangrove canopy by the upper lens is the only plausible explanation for the behavioral results”. The behavioral results were that T. cystophora would begin to swim faster and towards the trees as they were moved away from