Behind the Scenes With the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Master of Jellyfish

Behind the Scenes With the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Master of Jellyfish

3 years ago
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https://www.wired.com/story/behind-the-scenes-monterey-bay-aquarium-jellyfish/

There’s perhaps no creature on earth more blissfully unaware of the turmoil humanity is descending into than the jellyfish. I mean, it doesn’t even have a brain, just a simple nervous system that allows it to leisurely pulse around the oceans. Yet a few among the jellies risked getting caught up in the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic: As the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California closed to the public, someone had to keep taking care of the jellyfish.

That someone is jellyfish aquarist MacKenzie Bubel. She’s been working tirelessly behind the scenes—as socially-distanced from her colleagues as possible, of course—to breed and raise a range of species, from the well-known moon jelly to the comb jellies, which actually are a separate group from true jellyfish. Each species has its own dietary requirements and reproductive eccentricities, but all have one thing in common: They’re extremely delicate and extremely difficult to raise in captivity.