Understanding the dietary relationship between extensive Noctiluca bloom outbreaks and Jellyfish swarms along the eastern Arabian Sea (West coast of India)

The paper attempts to understand the interrelationship between recurring blooms of dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans as well as increasing jellyfish swarms along the coastal waters of eastern Arabian Sea. The grazing of N. scintillans on diatoms in the productive waters with reduced competition pressure due to the opportunistic feeding of jellyfishes on zooplankton are described here. With the development of N. scintillans in the favourable environmental conditions, jellyfishes utilize this dinoflagellate as their food source and thrive in the coastal waters. Hence, trophic interaction between Noctiluca and jellyfishes leading to their proliferation in the coastal waters are delineated.