The bloom of invasive alien comb jelly Beroe ovata Bruguière, 1789 in the Bay of Bengal

The present study documented a bloom of the comb jelly Beroe ovata occurring off Devaneri Kuppam in Mahabalipuram, close to Chennai.The abundance of the B. ovata bloom was estimated as 342 21 individuals per cubic metre.A negligible number of hydromedusae specimens mixed with the comb jelly were also observed.The abundance of its predatory fish, the black pomfret (Parastromateus niger), the hydrozoan jellyfish (Aequorea pensilis), and the scyphozoan jellyfish (Cyanea nozakii) would be positively correlated with the sudden disappearance of the bloom of B. ovata on 10 October 2024.Following the bloom of B. ovata, the abundance of A. pensilis and C. nozakii led to a depletion of copepods, the main predators of dinoflagellates and diatoms, favouring the bloom of Noctiluca scintillans.