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The Mastigias jellyfish eats zooplankton. In the areas that they live in, there is not enough zooplankton to go around. They actually have what we would call a "backup plan." |
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Mastigias jellies have things called zooxanthelia. Zooxanthelia is a fancy word for algae cells. By getting sunlight, the algae cells can go through the process of photosynthesis. When this happens, algae start to grow on the outside of the jellyfish. The interaction between the jellyfish and the algae cells is called mutualism. |
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So with all that said, I guess we can come to a conclusion that if there were no sunlight, then Mastigias jellyfish would pretty much become extinct. |
