Exhibition and Breeding of Jellyfish in Enoshima Aquarium

Even today there is still a lot to learn regarding the biology of the diverse group of coelenterates. With a better knowledge the husbandry can be improved, too. Only since less than 40 years is it possible to keep and cultivate corals, and since almost 50 years some jellyfish species can be kept and bred successfully in an aquarium. But nevertheless it is still difficult to breed certain other jellyfish species for prolonged periods of time.

The Enoshima Aquarium, which was opened in 1954, tried right from its beginning to be a pioneer amongst the Japanese aquariums for new husbandry and exhibition methods (Fig. 1). In the 1970s the Enoshima Aquarium became famous also outside of Japan for the trained fish shows (Gewalt, 1973). But already in 1973 the Enoshima Aquarium started to exhibit Moon jellyfish for the regular exhibition. Today 50 jellyfish species are shown in the exhibition.