Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Distribution of Nemopilema nomurai in the southwestern Sea of Japan related to meandering of the Tsushima Warm Current

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Oceanography Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigated the horizontal distribution of Nemopilema nomurai medusae using a midwater trawl in the southwestern Sea of Japan from September to October of each year from 2006 to 2012. Numerous medusae of this species found in 2006, 2007, and 2009 were mainly distributed far (>40 km) from the mainland of Japan in the western part of the survey area, but were distributed in the stations closest (<25 km) to the mainland in the eastern part, particularly in 2006 and 2009. These distribution patterns were associated with the path of the second branch of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) that flows offshore to the west of Oki Islands and usually approaches the mainland of Japan to the east of Oki Islands. Differences in jellyfish distribution across the survey periods were related to the distribution of the second branch being associated with types, position and intensity of eddies in the eastern part of the survey area. Hence, the formations of eddies and consequent variation in the path of the TWC would be responsible for transporting medusae from offshore to near the mainland to the east of Oki Islands. Individuals with large bells accumulated in the northwestern part of the survey area, where a cyclonic eddy was present downstream of the third branch of the TWC. This variation in bell size distribution may be ascribed to differences in the physical and/or biological factors among the three branches of the TWC.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Dong Z, Liu D, Keesing JK (2010) Jellyfish blooms in China: dominant species, causes and consequences. Mar Pollut Bull 60:954–963

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukudome K, Yoon JH, Ostrovskii A, Takikawa T, Han IS (2010) Seasonal volume transport variation in the Tsushima Warm Current through the Tsushima Straits from 10 years of ADCP observations. J Oceanogr 66:539–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hase H, Yoon J, Koterayama W (1999) The current structure of the Tsushima Warm Current along the Japanese coast. J Oceanogr 55:217–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasegawa D, Yamazaki H, Lueck RG, Seuront L (2004) How islands stir and fertilize the upper ocean. Geophys Res Lett 31:2–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Honda N, Watanabe T, Matsushita Y (2009) Swimming depths of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai investigated using pop-up archival transmitting tags and ultrasonic pingers. Fish Sci 75:947–956

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyun J, Kim D, Shin C, Noh J, Yang E, Mok J, Kim S, Kim H, Yoo S (2009) Enhanced phytoplankton and bacterioplankton production coupled to coastal upwelling and an anticyclonic eddy in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea. Aquat Microb Ecol 54:45–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ichiye T, Takano T (1988) Mesoscale eddies in the Japan Sea. La Mer 26:69–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Iguchi N, Lee HE, Yoon WD, Kim S (2010) Reproduction of the giant jellyfish, Nemopilema nomurai (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae), in 2006–2008 as peripherally-transported populations. Ocean Sci J 45:129–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ishii H, Båmstedt U (1998) Food regulation of growth and maturation in a natural population of Aurelia aurita (L.). J Plankton Res 20:805–816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isoda Y (1994) Warm eddy movements in the eastern Japan Sea. J Oceanogr 50:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanaji Y, Watanabe Y, Kawamura T, Xie S, Yamashita Y, Sassa C, Tsukamoto Y (2009) Multiple cohorts of juvenile jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus in waters along the Tsushima Warm Current. Fish Res 95:139–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kang J-H, Kim W-S, Chang K-I, Noh J-H (2004) Distribution of plankton related to the mesoscale physical structure within the surface mixed layer in the southwestern East Sea, Korea. J Plankton Res 26:1515–1528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katoh O (1993) Detailed current structures over the continental shelf off the San’in coast in summer. J Oceanogr 49:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katoh O (1994) Structure of the Tsushima Current in the southwestern Japan Sea. J Oceanogr 50:317–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katoh O, Morinaga K, Miyaji K, Teshima K (1996) Branching and joining of the Tsushima Current around the Oki Islands. J Oceanogr 52:747–761

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawahara M, Uye S, Burnett J, Mianzan H (2006a) Stings of edible jellyfish (Rhopilema hispidum, Rhopilema esculentum and Nemopilema nomurai) in Japanese waters. Toxicon 48:713–716

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawahara M, Uye S, Ohtsu K, Iizumi H (2006b) Unusual population explosion of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae) in East Asian waters. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 307:161–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee CI, Park MO (2011) Time series changes in sea-surface temperature, chlorophyll a, nutrients, and sea-wind in the East/Japan Sea on the left- and right-hand sides of Typhoon Shanshan’s track. Ocean Sci J 45:253–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee HJ, Yoon JH, Kawamura H, Kang HW (2003) Comparison of RIAMOM and MOM in modeling the East Sea/Japan Sea circulation. Ocean Polar Res 25:287–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell DA, Watts DR, Wimbush M, Teague WJ, Tracey KL, Book JW, Chang K-I, Suk M-S, Yoon J-H (2005) Upper circulation patterns in the Ulleung Basin. Deep Sea Res II 52:1617–1638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon J, Pang I, Yang J, Yoon WD (2010) Behavior of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai in the East China Sea and East/Japan Sea during the summer of 2005: a numerical model approach using a particle-tracking experiment. J Mar Syst 80:101–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morimoto A, Isoda Y, Tameishi T, Moriwaki S (2009a) Seasonal variation in Tsushima Warm Current paths over the shelf off the San’in coast, Japan. Cont Shelf Res 29:1437–1447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morimoto A, Takikawa T, Onitsuka G, Watanabe A, Moku M, Yanagi T (2009b) Seasonal variation of horizontal material transport through the eastern channel of the Tsushima Straits. J Oceanogr 65:61–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naganuma K (1977) The oceanographic fluctuations in the Japan Sea. Kaiyo Kagaku 9:139–141 (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagasawa T, Kobayashi T (1995) The early life history of the rockfish, Sebastes thompsoni (Scorpaenidae), in the Sea of Japan. Jpn J Ichthyol 41:385–396

    Google Scholar 

  • Omori M, Kitamura M (2004) Taxonomic review of three Japanese species of edible jellyfish (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae). Plankton Biol Ecol 51:36–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Onitsuka G, Yanagi T, Yoon JH (2007) A numerical study on nutrient sources in the surface layer of the Japan Sea using a coupled physical-ecosystem model. J Geophys Res 112:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Onitsuka G, Miyahara K, Hirose N, Watanabe S, Semura H, Hori R, Nishikawa T, Miyaji K, Yamaguchi M (2010) Large-scale transport of Cochlodinium polykrikoides blooms by the Tsushima Warm Current in the southwest Sea of Japan. Harmful Algae 9:390–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takikawa T, Hata K, Ueno S, Kawamura M, Morimoto A, Miyaji K (2010) Hydrographic structure and giant jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai) distribution east of the Oki Islands in early summer 2009. Umi to Sora 86:13–22 (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Toyokawa M, Shibata M, Cheng J-H, Li H-Y, Ling J-Z, Lin N, Liu Z-L, Zhang Y, Shimizu M, Akiyama H (2012) First record of wild ephyrae of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai. Fish Sci 78:1213–1218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uye S (2008) Blooms of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai: a threat to the fisheries sustainability of the East Asian Marginal Seas. Plankton Benthos Res 3:125–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uye S (2010) Studies on functional roles of zooplankton in coastal marine ecosystem: toward restoring productive seas for global sustainability. Oceanogr Jpn 19:283–299 (in Japanese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Uye S (2014) The giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai in East Asian Marginal Seas. In: Pitt KA, Lucas CH (eds) Jellyfish blooms. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 185–205

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Katoh O, Yamada H (2006) Structure of the Tsushima warm current in the northeastern Japan Sea. J Oceanogr 62:527–538

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe T, Simizu D, Nishiuchi K, Hasegawa T, Katoh O (2009) Surface current structure of the Tsushima Warm Current region in the Japan Sea derived by satellite-tracked surface drifters. J Oceanogr 65:791–801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu Y, Ishizaka J, Yamaguchi H, Siswanto E, Wang S (2013) Relationships of interannual variability in SST and phytoplankton blooms with giant jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai) outbreaks in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. J Oceanogr 69:511–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamada K, Ishizaka J, Nagata H (2005) Spatial and temporal variability of satellite primary production in the Japan Sea from 1998 to 2002. J Oceanogr 61:857–869

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon WD, Yang JY, Shim MB, Kang HK (2008) Physical processes influencing the occurrence of the giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae) around Jeju Island, Korea. J Plankton Res 30:251–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang F, Sun S, Jin X, Li C (2012) Associations of large jellyfish distributions with temperature and salinity in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. Hydrobiologia 690:81–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. A. Okuno for providing valuable comments on earlier versions of this manuscript; the captains, crew, and scientists on board R/Vs Shunyo-maru and Kaiyo-maru for their cooperation at sea; Ms. K. Saitoh and M. Itoh for their help with summarizing data; the two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. This research was partially supported by grants from the Fisheries Agency of Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Japan Sea National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, 1-5939-22 Suido-cho, Chuo, Niigata, 951-8121, Japan

    Satoshi Kitajima, Naoki Iguchi, Naoto Honda, Tatsuro Watanabe & Osamu Katoh

  2. Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, 1551-8 Taira-machi, Nagasaki, 851-2213, Japan

    Satoshi Kitajima

Authors
  1. Satoshi Kitajima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naoki Iguchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Naoto Honda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tatsuro Watanabe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Osamu Katoh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satoshi Kitajima.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kitajima, S., Iguchi, N., Honda, N. et al. Distribution of Nemopilema nomurai in the southwestern Sea of Japan related to meandering of the Tsushima Warm Current. J Oceanogr 71, 287–296 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-015-0288-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10872-015-0288-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation