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Juvenile Trevally Accompany Jellyfish
Juvenile trevally escorts jellyfish in Olele Bay, Gorontalo.
Travel Buddies
Several times
, Miguel’s Diving staff have observed juvenile trevally travelling with large jellyfish. Oftentimes, the young fish hide inside the bell of the jellyfish. They are safe there from predators and from the bushy, oral arms of the jellyfish. Usually, these large jellyfish travel the open oceans. Sometimes currents or winds will bring one of them close to Gorontalo’s reefs. The jellyfish will die if it gets caught on coral or drifts onto a beach. At those times, the fish seems to push the jellyfish away from danger and towards the open sea.
Thysanostoma species
We have only seen juvenile trevally accompanying large Thysanostoma jellies. Jellyfish of the Thysanostoma genus live in warm waters from the central Indo-Pacific to Japan. The Latin word thysanura means “bristle tails.” This name refers to the large, bushy oral arms that hang from the jellyfish’s central bell. They are active swimmers, using a pumping motion of the bell for propulsion.
Juvenile Trevally
Pilotfish (Naucrates ductor) are famous for accompanying large pelagic marine life. However, the juvenile trevally found in Gorontalo with Thysanostoma jellies are different. In 2009, we found a juvenile Blue trevally (Carangoides ferdau) darting in and out of a jellfish’s bell. The fish was so active that it is blurred in all its photographs. Its pattern, though, is disctinctive.
Recently in 2017, we saw a fish grown too large to hide inside the bell of its travel buddy. This fish was not actually a juvenile trevally but a sub-adult. This stage of life for ocean swimming trevally species is rarely documented. Mr. Rudie Kuiter suggests that the one we observed was a young Longfin trevally (Carangoides armatus).
For your chance to see marine life interaction in Gorontalo, please contact with us for a dive package booking.
