Transitions in morphologies, fluid regimes, and feeding mechanisms during development of the medusa Lychnorhiza lucerna

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2016. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 557 (2016): 145-159, doi:10.3354/meps11855.The early ontogeny of scyphomedusae involves morphological and functional transitions in body plans that affect the predators’ propulsive and feeding strategies. We applied high-speed videography, digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) and dye visualization techniques to evaluate alterations in swimming and feeding mechanisms during ontogeny of the rhizostome medusa Lychnorhiza lucerna Haeckel, 1880 (Scyphozoa, Rhizostomeae). During early ontogeny, the ephyral mouth lips develop into complex filtering structures along the oral arms. The viscous environments (Reynolds number