Craspedacusta sowerbyi: the natural history and ecology of a freshwater jellyfish.

Abstract

Being a high school science teacher, I run across a lot of different types of organisms. One of the strangest I've ever hear of used to inhabit a local stone quarry before it was filled in. The older teachers at the school tell how they used to bring these creatures into the room where they could be observed for weeks at a time. These creatures are not quite as rare as they were once thought to be. I'm speaking of the only North American freshwater jellyfish, Craspedacusta sowerbyi. In this paper, I hope to give a brief summary of the life, structures, ecology, and history this unusual cnidarian.