JellyFish Lake

Jim - Palau 2005

at JellyFish Lake, in the Rock Islands of Palau

SCUBA Genealogy Family Radio Trips Ranching

The lake was cloudy the day I was there. These JellyFish lost their stingers when they evolved into a semi-freshwater species.

There are two species of jellyfish living in the lake, the big white Moon Jellyfish and the Mestiga. They have lost their ability to sting.

This is the most unusual phenonanum in the world! After a short and steep climb along a forested trail, you snorkel in a clear water lake filled with over a million jellyfish. Fissures in the limestone island allow seepage of seawater, yet keep other forms of aquatic life outside. Due to a lack of predators, the jellyfish have evolved to point where they have no ability to sting.

The Mestiga Jellyfish depends on Algae for food, thus hosting them in their bodies. In order to provide sun light for photosynthesis, the jellyfish follow the sun across the lake. During El Nino, the Mestiga Jellyfish had disappeared from the lake due to higher water temperatures. The Jellyfish did not die. If the water conditions are not right (such as in the El Nino phenomenon), the larva are simply transferred back to Polyps. From studies conducted in 1998, 1999 and 2000, scientists learned that the number of larva/polyp remained the same and determined that when conditions improved the jellyfish would return.
 

Jodie on the surface at Jellyfish Lake

Matsuo and Jim near Jellyfish Lake

   

 

 

 

Back to Jim Palau April 2005 Main Page

2 Dogs Island April 23

Ulong Island, Ulong Channel and Ulong Cave Apr 18

Rock Islands of Palau April 18

 

Jellyfish Lake in the Rock Islands of Palau

 

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JellyFish Lake is in the Rock Islands of Palau

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