Presence data of gelatinous zooplankton in the Polar Night in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, in 2022

During the KOP183 project Arctic jellyfish in the Polar Night at the AWIPEV station in January-February 2022, we assessed the Polar Night gelatinous zooplankton community and their overwintering strategies. By means of net catches from WP2 and WP3 plankton nets deployed from MS Teisten, and hand nets deployed from the pontoon in Ny-Alesund, we characterized the species diversity of gelatinous zooplankton, including hydrozoan and scyphozoan medusae, as well as ctenophores. At least 15 different species of gelatinous zooplankton (6 Hydrozoa of which 2 Siphonophora, 2 Scyphozoa, 8 Ctenophora), were observed, based on morphological examination. Several of these species were so far not known to overwinter. DNA barcoding of these specimens is currently ongoing and will likely reveal an even higher species diversity, knowing that a number of unidentified species were sampled.