Marvel at the beauty of Manila Ocean Park’s jellies

10/16/2009

Visitors to the Manila Ocean Park’s Sunset Quay Mall will find themselves immersed in a world glimmering with brainless, spineless, heartless but beautiful species of jellyfish as they pulse in specially designed exhibits inside striking studio glass. The exhibit is designed to illustrate how the jellyfish and the senses share common characteristics of color, pattern, movement and rhythm. When people think of jellies, they often think about getting stung, and we assure you that the jellyfishes in the exhibit are certainly magnificent, mesmerizing and even a little ethereal. The jellyfishes in the exhibit are not the ones you step on or swim by during a visit on the beach.

Although they are commonly referred to as jellyfish, the creatures on display are neither fish nor jelly. They are marine invertebrates known as cnidarians, most closely related to sea anemones and corals. For P150 the exhibit contains a variety of tanks that enable visitors to see jellies up close. Tanks with racetrack-shaped openings feature different jellies with different color hues drifting through the water like clouds in the sky. Those intrigued by the technology behind an aquarium are sure to marvel at the way this exhibit was created. The curatorial staff had to add a series of tanks with their own filtration and salination systems to replicate conditions in nature. The darkened gallery has a futuristic feel that evokes the notion of invaders and travel through space.

Jellyfish are indicators on the health of the ecosystem because it can easily sense the nutrients in the water. When there are more nutrients, then there are more jellyfishes. This is an indication of the state of the water in the ocean. If the visitor’s senses are still not stimulated enough, Manila Ocean Park’s Jelly Exhibit still has more to offer. During the second part of the exhibit, visitors travel through the fabrics of space and time through a new dimension, a room called the infinity room. Here visitors would be spellbound by the feel of infinite space, made possible by glass walls placed in strategic locations. The jellies are enjoyed through glowing acrylic tubes scattered all over the room. It would be like watching living lava lamps, peaceful, relaxing and ever-changing.

Surely visitors, would be mesmerized as they walk out of this wonderful exhibit. The exhibit is open daily all year round, including all holidays.

Jellyfish (also known as jellies or sea jellies) are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. There are about 2,000 different species worldwide. Medusa (plural medusae) is another word for jellyfish. Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea. Some jellyfish are also found in fresh water.

Since jellyfish are not actually fish, some people consider the term jellyfish a misnomer and many public aquariums have popularized use of the terms jellies or sea jellies instead. Others find the word jellyfish to be equally useful and picturesque. The word jellyfish is used to denote several different kinds of cnidarians, all of which have a basic body structure that resembles an umbrella.

The presence of jellies in the ocean is dictated by the availability of prey, which is seasonal in most places, increasing with temperature and sunshine in the spring and summer. Ocean currents tend to congregate jellyfish into large swarms or blooms, consisting of hundreds or thousands of individuals. In addition to sometimes being concentrated by ocean currents, blooms can furthermore be the result of unusually high populations in some years. The formation of these blooms is a complex process that depends on ocean currents, nutrients, temperature and ambient oxygen concentrations. Jellyfish are most likely to stay in blooms that are quite large and can reach up to 100,000 in just 1 bloom.

Visit the Manila Ocean Park now and see these marvelous jellies for yourself!

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