Geographic Range

Key Reproductive Features

iteroparous 

year-round breeding 

gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate) 

simultaneous hermaphrodite 

sexual 

asexual 

fertilization 

 

• 
  external 
  
• 
  internal 
  

 

• 
  oviparous
  

As hermaphroditic broadcast spawners, ctenophores exhibit no parental investment beyond the production of gametes. (Brusca and Brusca, 2003)

• 
  Parental Investment
  
• 
  no parental involvement 
  
• 
  precocial
  

Lifespan/Longevity

While little information is available regarding average ctenophore lifespans, individual species may have lifespans of anywhere from less than a month to three years. (Kasuya, et al., 2002; Mills, 1984; Siferd and Conover, 1992)

Behavior

While they may have locally high population densities, ctenophores are solitary animals. Movement is achieved through the use of cilial motion, coordinated by an apical sense organ containing a calcareous statolith. Depending on the comb jellies' orientation, this statolith presses on one of four balancers (tufts of cilia supporting the statolith), causing the downside ctenes to beat more vigorously and right the animal. Benthic ctenophores may "creep" along a surface, using their flattened bodies as a sort of foot. Some ctenophores exhibit diurnal migration, following the movement of their planktonic prey into deeper water during the day and shallower water at night. The beating motion of their cilia causes light diffraction, which causes waves of color change down the comb rows, not to be confused with bioluminescence. Many, but not all species of ctenophores are also bioluminescent, however, producing blue-green light. (Brusca and Brusca, 2003; Haddock and Case, 1995; Marinova, et al., 2004; Mills and Haddock, 2007; Mills, 1984; Mills, 2010; Nicol, 1960)

• 
  Key Behaviors
  
• 
  natatorial 
  
• 
  diurnal 
  
• 
  nocturnal 
  
• 
  crepuscular 
  
• 
  motile 
  
• 
  solitary