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Blooms of moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita s.l. occur in various vertical distribution patterns within the water column. Reasons for these distribution patterns have remained obscure. To quantify the influence of pycnocline and low dissolved oxygen (DO) on the vertical distribution of A. aurita aggregations, we investigated temperature, salinity, DO, and observed densities of A. aurita at 1-2 m depth intervals via video camera in a eutrophicated, enclosed bay, Mikawa Bay, Japan, for 3 years. During the observed period, stratification and hypoxic status of the bay varied seasonally and interannually due to climatic events, such as rainy season and typhoon passage. Both sharp pycnocline and low DO limited A. aurita vertical distribution. The more strongly stratified the water column, the more the upper boundary of A. aurita distribution was restricted. Bottom hypoxic water limited the lower boundary of A. aurita distribution. The DO threshold for in situ distribution was estimated to be *2.5 mg l -1 , which is much higher than the experimentally obtained, sublethal values identified in previous studies. Our results show that climatic events affect A. aurita vertical distribution through changes in the physical characteristics of the water column.

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Study of the ascidian collection at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba, revealed some Japanese specimens of the non-native ascidian, Ascidiella aspersa (Müller, 1776), collected in 2007 from both mid-temperate Oominato, Mutsu Bay, in the northernmost part of Honshû, and from warm-temperate Ago Bay, Kii Peninsula, middle Honshû. These specimens were collected one year earlier than the previous earliest Japanese record from cool-temperate Funka Bay, Hokkaido. Mutsu Bay has an international port, which can be assumed to be the invasion gateway for this ascidian from abroad. On the other hand, this ascidian may have arrived at Ago Bay by domestic transport because all of the bay's ports are strictly for domestic use under governmental regulations. A comparison of the publicly available sequences for the 18S rRNA gene among this species and its allies suggested the possibility that it inhabited Korean waters as far back as the late 1990s, and it entered Japanese waters from Korea through an as yet unknown international port(s).

A new species of the Macrochironidae Humes & Boxshall, 1996 (Copepoda: Cyclopoida), Pseudomacrochiron aureliae n. sp., is described based on adult specimens extracted from the gastrovacular cavity of the scyphistomae of Aurelia sp. (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) collected in the Seto Inland Sea and Ise Bay off the coast of Japan. The new species differs from its congeners by having the following combination of characters: a caudal ramus with a length to width ratio of 3.1; an accessory flagellum on caudal setae II, III and VI; three apical setae on the maxillule; only setae I and II on the maxillary basis; two short spines on the female maxilliped claw (endopod); an armature of III, I, 4 on the terminal exopodal segment of leg 3; an armature of I, II, 2 on the terminal endopodal segment of leg 3; an armature of II, I, 4 on the terminal exopodal segment of leg 4; and a short free exopodal segment of leg 5 (length to width ratio of 1.4) armed with a long seta and short spine. P. aureliae n. sp. is the first member of the genus reported from off Japan and from the scyphistomae of its scyphozoan host.