| dc.description.abstract | Jellyfish of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria) in the Gulf of Mexico are greatly understudied despite the fact that they are top predator and may have a significant ecological impact on fisheries and marine plankton in general. Medusae of the class Hydrozoa were collected every other day from October 2016 to February 2017 at the boat basin at the Texas A&M University at Galveston campus. Hydromedusae were isolated and examined for morphological characters. Each medusa was photographed, and DNA was extracted from every collected medusa. The mitochondrial 16S gene was amplified and sequenced, and the sequences were analyzed and compared with available sequences in a public repository, such as GenBank. Results illustrated that the abundance of Hydromedusae was not significantly correlated to water temperature, but was significantly correlated to salinity. Species diversity was varied throughout the sampling period, exhibiting the greatest amount of diversity in the Fall. The goal of this project is to contribute to long-term monitoring to assess the diversity and temporal fluctuations of the Hydromedusae population in Galveston Bay, and will be continued to obtain further information about the frequency and intensity of Hydromedusae blooms. | |
