Food preference and dietary of jellyfish from Kuala Terengganu waters

Abstract

There are 4 classes in phylum Cnidaria, which are the Anthozoa, Scyphozoa, Cubozoa and Hydrozoa. In this study, two classes of phylum Cnidaria were found in Kuala Terengganu waters, which are Scyphozoa; order Semaeostomeae and Cubozoa; order Cubomedusae. Both orders differ from their dietary to their feeding behaviors. Food item frequency method and gravimetric method were used to find the dietary of these two orders. The dietary of these two orders were studied and the dietary of Semaeostomeae was mainly plankton, while the dietary of Cubomedusae was mostly fish with food item frequency composition value of 81.25%, gravimetric composition value of 83.70%, numerical composition value of 81.25% and index of relative importance value of 13402.30. The relationship between the weight of the Cnidarians and their bell diameter was also studied. For Semaeostomeae, there was no relationship while for Cubomedusae, there is a significant relationship.