Life History
Aequorea victoria have a dimorphic life history, alternating between asexual benthic polyps and sexual planktonic medusae in a seasonal pattern. Aequorea victoria juvenile medusae are asexually budded off hydroid colonies in late spring; these free-living hydromedusae will spend all of their lives in the plankton. The medusa spends its first stage of life growing quickly, and after reaching approximately 3 cm will begin producing gametes for reproduction. Each medusa is either a male or a female. The eggs and spermatozoa mature daily in the medusa gonads, given enough food, and are free-spawned into the water column in response to a daily light cue, where they are fertilized and eventually settle out to form a new hydroid colony. The hydroids live on hard or rocky substrates on the bottom, where they asexually bud new tiny jellyfish each springtime in response to some (still unknown) environmental cue(s). The medusa form generally lives approximately 6 months, roughly from late spring into the autumn.
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