First Occurrence Record of Lobonemoides gracilis Light, 1914 Jellyfish Bloom in the Coastal Waters of World’s Largest Sea Turtle Rookery – “The Gahirmatha”, Northwestern Bay of Bengal, India

Abstract

Present study provides first report of scyphozoan jellyfish bloom (Lobonemoides gracilis Light, 1914) near the coastal waters of Gahirmatha sea turtle rookery spanning around 20 km² area having abundance ranges between 200 and 700 numbers per bloom patch during monsoon (27th & 28th September 2022) in the northwestern Bay of Bengal region. Despite sporadic patches reported in Palk Bay and Chennai coast, swarming events of L. gracilis is new to Indian context however such bloom reports prevailed in Bangladesh coastal waters. Synchronized events associated with plankton and jellyfish blooms, followed by sea turtle congregation decipher intricate prey-predator relationship subtly functions at Gahirmatha. Since, this species is edible therefore jellyfish fishery of this particular species may offer economic potential to the impoverished fishermen.