| Summary: | <i>Sanderia malayensis</i> is a scyphozoan species present in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ranging from the Suez Canal to Japan. Although this jellyfish is commonly kept in aquariums around the world, there is a knowledge gap regarding its biology and ecology, especially at the polyp stage. In this study, we tested the asexual reproductive activity of <i>S. malayensis</i> at three different temperatures: 10, 15 and 20 °C. Results showed significant increases of polyps at 15 and 20 °C, and a minimum at 10 °C, corresponding with daily budding rates of 6.61% ± 0.92%, 5.85% ± 2.36% and 0.66% ± 0.24%, respectively. Moreover, a second experiment was carried out to report about the ability of <i>S. malayensis</i> to prey on <i>Aurelia solida</i> at the ephyra stage. Unidirectional predation of <i>S. malayensis</i> ephyrae on <i>A. solida</i> and an absence of inverse predation was observed. These results could give new insights on the potential fitness and survival of this species if it will ever invade the Mediterranean Sea.
|
|---|