MIAD CD4_13 Tiny MKE

urban camping If you have the urge to escape the prison walls of your home, look up: The solution could be just a few stairs up to the roof.

the art of doing nothing As people get older, they realize that time is more valuable than money.

And finding time to do nothing is perhaps exactly what we all need.

the little things

freshwater jellyfish

The definition of a volunteer shifts and changes from person to person, Dan Brantl shares his understanding.

They roam the Great Lakes and just about every other lake in the United States, but chances are you’ve never seen them.

What are freshwater jellyfish?

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In this month’s issue of Tiny MKE we explore all things small and underappreciated or just unique that Milwaukee or city life has to offer. Learn about freshwater jellyfish, the top 10 best restaurants in Milwaukee, how to camp in your urban spaces, and even the wonderful art of doing nothing.

The definition of a volunteer shifts and changes from person to person, Dan Brantl shares his understanding

Learn how to make one of Miwaukee’s most famous treats with this sweet and easy hands on recipe

In this months section we interview a farmer feeding Milwaukee. Alissa shares the experience of shifting from an office job to the life of a farmer

If you have the urge to escape the prison walls of your home, look up: The solution could be just a few stairs up — to the roof

As people get older, they realize that time is more valuable than money. And finding time to do nothing is perhaps exactly what we all need

Milwaukee’s most famous foods and locations are shared They roam the Great Lakes and just about every other lake in the United States, but chances are you’ve never seen them.

What are freshwater jellyfish?

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Hello my good and faithful Tiny MKE readers! We have got a great issue for you this month, jammed packed with all the delightfully tiny things about Milwaukee. In this issue you’ll get to know the freshwater jellyfish that lurk in Lake Michigan, enjoy Milwaukee’s top ten restaurants, explore the new urban camping phenominon and learn how to do nothing. That’s right, I said learn how to do nothing. Each article will help you enjoy every last minute of this quickly escaping summer, so I hope you’re ready for a good read and a great time! Enjoy!

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the idea that service is the same as volunteering is only partially correct.

Each and every one of us as human beings has serviced one or another in some way, whether it is voluntary or for profit. The true definition of the word “service” runs parallel with my own understanding of the word. In my opinion, helping one another can lead to a healthy reward, whether it is money, gifts or an experience. Many people may misinterpret the whole meaning of “service” for volunteering, but the ones who clearly understand, will realize that servicing one another is an everyday venture.

by Dan Brantl

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Loaning someone a pencil, working for a wage, cleaning trash up from local parks, and tasks around home are just a few examples or service acts, in which I was helping an individual, group or community.

Generally speaking, the number of acts of service is infinite. They can range from the smallest favor to the most extreme, such as the saving of a life and everything in between. I personally, have experienced a wide spectrum of service. Loaning someone a pencil, working for a wage, cleaning trash up from local parks, and tasks around home are just a few examples of service acts, in which I was helping an individual, group or community. I have been serviced in such ways as well as many others, but one of the most significant services that I have benefited from was the simple aid of a phone call that possibly saved my life. The call was to 911 from an anonymous person who described the scene of myself, lying comatose like immediately after a painful collision with the sidewalk. I had been skateboarding, attempting to jump down a fairly large gap. When I landed I must of slipped and fell backwards causing me to become unconscious for x amount of time.

I finally awoke confused and in pain to paramedics and an ambulance. I was later told that my skull had been fractured in two places and that luckily a person called saying that I was in need of medical attention. All in all, numerous amounts of service acts occur everyday by everyone and anyone in the world.

Both my mother and cousin have and still do work with kids, young and old. Years back, my mother, Kathryn Brantl would volunteer to teach a CCD (Christian Commission for Development) class at the local church. She worked with children planning activities and teaching them about the church and religion. Even though this was voluntary, she said that she felt good for helping the youth. She defines volunteering as a service, which is only a portion of the definition. My cousin, Phil Earhart defines the other half by teaching at a high school in Peoria, Illinois. He does profit from his service, but he believes that history is important and helpful knowledge. Along with teaching he also coaches

volleyball and helps the kids gain experiences

interview, sometimes there isn’t much a teacher,

and skills. He has also done volunteer work, but

adult, etc can do to help unless they really

mostly for requirements in school or work. Both

connect with them. Just as in the novel “Speak,”

of my relatives have the same understanding

the main character is a high school student

of the term “service.” They both felt that they

that is completely lost, until she meets the art

benefit from their acts of service, especially

teacher whom brings the best out of her, while

when their students are interested and excited

all the other teachers failed to do so. While the

about the subject. They have dealt with the

character in “Speak” had trouble finding a place

youth that may have been lost and as much as

where she fit in high school, I had the difficulty

they could, they tried to steer them in the right

of selecting a volunteer setting that I enjoyed and

way. Both my cousin and mother have succeeded

felt comfortable in. I settled on the Milwaukee

in helping the youth, but they also believe that

Bike Collective where I will be performing acts

the some that were lost would eventually find

of service such as helping clean and organize the

someone out in the world to connect with.

shop and fixing bikes. Plenty of the bikes that are at the shop are for the youth as well as adults.

Not everyone that performs a service particularly

As my relatives gain happiness from servicing the

does it well that is why specifically in the youth

youth, the same applies to me. Knowing that you

community, they may become lost and troubled.

helped a child and made them happy choosing

Most of time it isn’t the child’s fault they are

their bike or fixing it is a rewarding experience

lost, it is due to other factors that are difficult

that enjoy throughout my service session.

to deal with and as my cousin described in an

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ingredients 4 cups milk 1-1/4 cups sugar Frozen custard is a Milwaukee staple, that has been helping beat the heat for years. If you can’t make it to Kopps or Culvers making it at home is the next best thing. Our recipe is simple and nearly as great as the real thing.

by Julie Schnittka

1/3 cup cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 4 Eggs 1 can (14 ounces) sweetended condensed milk 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

directions In a large saucepan, heat milk to 175°;

Stir in condensed milk and vanilla.

stir in the sugar, cornstarch and salt

Press waxed paper onto surface

until dissolved.

of custard.

Whisk a small amount of the hot

Refrigerate for several hours

mixture into the eggs. Return all to the

or overnight.

pan, whisking constantly. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches

Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer

at least 160° and coats the back of

two-thirds full; freeze according to the

a metal spoon.

manufacturer’s directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze.

Remove from the heat. Cool quickly

When ice cream is frozen, transfer to a

byplacing pan in a bowl of ice water; stir

freezer container; freeze for 2-4 hours

for 2 minutes

before serving. Yield: 1-1/2 quarts.

cam ping “It was a time to socialize and look at the stars,” says 24-year-old Ariel Abrahams, describing a recent camping trip. He talks about “the rush of the water from the creek, the chirping of birds,” and the trees standing close around him.

The hitch? Those natural sights and sounds were only in Abrahams’ imagination. His tent was actually pitched atop a Brooklyn warehouse.

by lori rotenberk 9

The man behind this “camp out,” conceptual artist Thomas Stevenson, calls his collection of woodframed, canvas tents Bivouac NYC. Bivouac, a word known better among mountaineers than urban denizens, is a French term for a temporary campsite.

Participants — up to 18 at a time — sleep for a night or two under the stars, their shelters often tucked amid cone-topped water tanks, in the hopes of experiencing the Great Connect by disconnecting.

Now in its second summer, the urban camping project has caught on, enough so that Stevenson has been asked to bring it to Boston, London, and possibly California.

I know what you’re thinking: Camping, sure —

what is happening to create this tent revival beneath a steel sky?

but in the city?

The appeal, aside from not having to “drop trou” in the woods, is the chance to experience urban environments in a new way, Stevenson says. “Even though you’re in the heart of a city, it’s quiet up on the roofs and suddenly people begin to understand what they might be able to do without.”

Stevenson launched Biouvac in the fall of 2011, only days after the Occupy movement emerged. For many people, the appearance of tents in Zuccotti Park, right in the heart of a city, was startling at first, he says. But their eyes adjusted, and Stevenson’s project began to look a little less outlandish — even fun.

For the past several years, artists around the world have been designing innovative ways people might camp in inner cities, going so far as to reimagine the tent for more urban surrounds. They’re on one edge of a broader movement that is getting city residents back out into nature — right in their own front yards (or right on their own rooftops, as the case may be).

In Amsterdam, import.export Architecture designed a mobile, raised, urban “tentscraper” camping unit, designed to instantly create a mini campground. In Berlin, Tentstation set up campsites near the city’s main train station and also near Brandenburg Gate.

Last month, Urban Campsite Amsterdam started offering customers a chance to stay in artistically rethought “tents” — inside a plastic container

resembling a cement mixer.

the landscape, we rediscover urbanity in a completely

Tent manufacturers are also rethinking camping,

new way. Smells, sounds, people, paths, roads, parks,

creating shelters that are tethered to tree trunks or

architecture all become things of exploration rather than

suspended in the air. Elsewhere, tents have become

simply parts

art canvases portraying the heavens, tropical scenes,

of the sum.

or great works of art.

A new school of city planners and architects and Meanwhile, cities such as Chicago, New York,

local government leaders more attuned to ideas of

Houston, and San Francisco have established urban

wild urbanity and E.O. Wilson’s biophilia hypothesis

camping programs, often geared toward families or

are already beginning to transform the metropolis,

neighborhood youths. Registration to pitch a tent in

adding more parks and lacing natural habitat amid

New York City’s Central Park by way of its Urban

bustling urban landscapes.

Park Rangers initiative are frequently snatched up by couples, some whom have written about the

In Chicago and surrounding communities, the Forest

experience. Many of the nation’s zoos hold overnight

Preserve District of Cook County has drawn up a

family camping adventures. In Europe, proponents

public camping master plan that, beginning next

are pitching camping as a greener form of tourism.

year, will overhaul five camp locations close to the city, adding modern shower and toilet facilities, tent

What is happening to create this tent revival

pads, small cabins, and upgrades throughout. Drawn

beneath a steel sky?

up after several with input from the community, the comprehensive plan will allow locals “to get to

Environmentalists and others cite the city dweller’s

a forest preserve and into the woods in merely 20

deep-rooted need to reconnect to nature. That

minutes from downtown Chicago,” says Arnold

was, after all, why some of the great parks were

Randall, the district’s superintendent. The city for

designed, long before concrete and asphalt so fully

more than a decade has offered youth and family

blanketed the urban landscape: The human “ancient

camping programs in many neighborhood parks.

brain” “needs that connection to nature,” says Tim Beatley, professor of sustainable communities at

In late June, several families camped on Northerly

the University of Virginia and author of the book,

Island the night of the supermoon. Campers arrived

Biophilic Cities.

by bus and even bicycle, as the tents were provided by the park district. Some were young parents,

Richard Louv, the author who coined the phrase

others grandparents with kids in tow.

“nature deficit disorder” explains that, as of 2008, more people live in cities worldwide than any other

As dusk approached, to the east, the grand lunar

time in history. “People are hungry for a nature-rich

orb seemed to rise from the lake. Directly west,

life,” he says, “a new kind of city in which lives a

Chicago’s skyline shot up from the landscape, no less

nature-rich civilization.”

stunning in its glow.

In re-imagining cities as campgrounds, American

For participants, sleeping with the lake and the city

landscape designer Adam Anderson in his blog

outside their tent flap offered an urban experience

Design Under Sky writes:

unlike anything else. “I was the best camping experience I ever had,” a young child who had never

A new wilderness is developing. Cities are rapidly

camped before told one of the organizers. Adults

growing, becoming more complex, and rather than

found that sleeping out with the city so near forever

locking ourselves up in our protective boxes, what if

changed their idea of what a campsite should be, and

we found a new way to test ourselves in the throws of

where: It doesn’t always have to be in the woods.

the urban wilderness? Rather than becoming intimately involved with nature, listening and understanding

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by Alysse Smith Herons’ View Farm is a hundred-plus-acre swath of beautiful land just outside Milwaukee, managed by Alissa Moore, a farmer feeding Milwaukee.

How did you get to where you are today?

Alissa Moore: When I worked on my first farm, Chubby Bunny, a week in I thought: I wish I could quit my job and do this forever.

Now I am! After college, I worked at a couple corporate jobs in Minnesota, and my brother was looking into farming. I got so excited looking at all these places he could work, and eventually checked in with myself and realized that’s what I wanted to try. So I left my office job in Duluth to do my first internship in Connecticut. After three seasons of interning I got a job on a farm in western Wisconsin, which did a lot for me.

How long did you intern overall?

Some people do one or two farming internships and then start their own farm. For me that wouldn’t have worked. I’m too much of a perfectionist. I spent the four years I interned learning how to farm from people who were really good at it. That meant when I went out on my own I had a lot of really great knowledge.

What makes you happiest?

The two things that make me happiest right now are farming, or growing food, and hanging out with my niece. She lives in Minneapolis and is sixand-a-half. We’re super close.

Isn’t that nuts that you can just plant a seed and get all this?

It’s unfathomable. I really like going to the market or when I’m doing a CSA, talking to people and hearing how they didn’t like certain vegetables until I put it into their CSA box. People who didn’t like arugula suddenly eat it every day.

What do you like most about farming?

How tangible it is—being able to work with food, seeing it grow, feeding people. I also really like that I have an outlet. I don’t sit still very well; it’s hard for me to do nothing, ever. And I’ve always been like that, had a lot of energy, enjoyed physical work.

Yeah, we are isolated! But we do a lot of socializing. We’re

Do you know a lot of other farmers? It seems like farmers could pretty easily be isolated.

actually working pretty hard to create a social network. There’s this institution called the Grange that used to be really popular, and we’re toying with the idea of starting a Grange here.

But there’s this debate out in Oregon about restarting a Grange but calling it the Green Grange, and it’s kind of creating a rift among sustainable versus conventional farmers, and we don’t really want to get into that fight around here. I mean, they’re not bad people. I’m meeting with our neighbor later who wants to rent land from us and grows conventional. He’s a super nice guy, he cares a lot about topsoil and farming the right way, and he’s going to grow organically—not certified organically—but isn’t going to use treated seeds, GMOs or herbicides on our land. It’s easy to say conventional farmers are bad, but they’re just trying to eke out a living farming like the rest of us.

Any lessons you’ve learned from farming?

Oh, yeah. I think it’s made me a lot more relaxed, which is funny— farming really isn’t relaxing. But it really makes you have to go with the flow.

Well I have this favorite quote by William James.

Any advice for women starting to do what they really love?

“To change one’s life: Start immediately.

Do it flamboyantly.

No exceptions.”

That’s what I kind of live by. When I’m starting to feel unhappy, I think: What can I do to immediately and flamboyantly change my life? I feel like that’s kind of what I did when I started farming. I left my life, packed up everything and drove away. I know everyone can’t do that but there are small ways you can do that for yourself. More to the point: If there’s something you really want to do, find a way to do it. Start.

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the art of doing nothing

by Nikaela Marie Peters

As people get older, they realize that time is more valuable than money.

And finding more time to do absolutely nothing is perhaps exactly what we all need. It’s the stuff of gods and infants—the birthplace of great works of art, philosophy and science. The habit of doing nothing at all is super-important to our individual and cultural well-being, yet it seems to be dying in our digitized age.

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‘‘

Some of the most important scientific innovations and inventions were ‘happened upon,’ unplanned, after years of unproductive, leisurely puzzling

‘‘

Thomas Aquinas argued that “it is necessary for the

window would add up to weeks of time. I watched

perfection of human society that there should be

nothing and anything. I (occasionally) smoked

men who devote their lives to contemplation.”

cigarettes and drank coffee… two habits that, while

Is true idleness a lost skill? How often do we sit,

unhealthy for the body, do—in certain circumstances

serenely unoccupied? How often do we walk, as

have health benefits for the soul.

Henry David Thoreau advised, with no agenda or destination, present and free? What an uncommon

Productivity is not the only measure of time

sight: a solitary individual, his head not buried in a

well spent. Some of the most important scientific

newspaper or laptop or phone, simply sitting—

innovations and inventions were “happened upon,”

his mind long wandered off.

unplanned, after years of unproductive, leisurely puzzling. My five-month-old understands this

Seven years ago, I lived in an apartment without an

intuitively. He will learn an entire language and how

Internet connection. I had a flip cell phone that only

to sit, stand, crawl and walk all mostly by doing what,

worked to make calls and send 40-character texts.

to an adult, would look like “nothing.”

Without the distraction of the Internet or the option of watching a movie, I was certainly more productive,

I’m convinced that time spent idle makes for a

according to certain measures. A mind adrift in a sea

healthier state of mind. We want less and are

of its own making is far more interesting than a mind

more at peace when we get it. We sleep better and

following a trail of hyperlinks. But what strikes me as

work harder. Simpler things bring us joy. When we

a greater loss—when I compare those years to now—

daily observe our immediate surroundings, we are

is all the time I spent doing “nothing.” My bedroom

more grounded in our context, more attuned to the

had a third-story view of a busy downtown street.

rhythms of whatever season or place we are in.

It was small, and the bed was pushed up against the

plus, the changing shapes of clouds need our attention.

window. I’m sure the hours I spent staring out that

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2 In this month’s Tiny top ten we have compiled

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a list of Milwaukee’s top ten restaurants. The

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list was compiled based on the votes of our readers. Our faithful readers chose out of over one hundred restaurants in various catagories.

Once the leaders of each category were chosen they were stacaked against one another until the top ten was found. Each of the restaurants chosen represents the roots of Milwaukee and the

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variety of cultures from which the city was born.

The list spans a variety of types of food from the more ethnic, Maharaja to the more traditionally american Sobelman’s. This month’s Tiny Top Ten

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is delectable and we hope your mouth is watering by the end of it. Enjoy Milwaukee’s valued top ten!

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1 blue’s egg

317 N 76th St, Milwaukee, WI 53213 The menu at Blue’s Egg reflects the melting pot of the American culinary creation. Taking traditional old world ingredients and fresh products madefrom-scratch with techniques from France, Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Scandinavia, and Northern Africa.

3 colectivo

170 S 1st St. Milwaukee, WI 53204 Alterra Coffee was started in 1993, roasting on the fifth floor of a warehouse in Walker’s Point. Since then the company has been renamed and rebranded but retains the same great and rich tasting coffee it always has.

5 sobelman’s

1900 W St Paul Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53233 In 1999 Dave and Melanie Sobelman started Sobelman’s pub and grill. They use fresh Black Angus beef patties on freshly baked rolls. Then, from flavorful onions to jalapeños to bacon, cheese and other topquality ingredients, the burgers are piled high just for you.

7 maharaja

1550 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Maharaja was introduced to downtown Milwaukee in the fall of 1997. The Maharaja menu focuses on both the northern and southern cuisines of India.

Cooked fresh everyday with unique ingredients, the dishes radiate authenticity.

9 botanas

816 S 5th St, Milwaukee, WI 53204 Botanas serves only the finest Mexican cuisine prepared in the tradition of chef Jaime’’s homeland, Guadalajara, Mexico.

Botanas offers a variety of dishes with an unusual twist. Family owned and operated, their unique family recipes offer you a taste well out of the ordinary.

2 kopps frozen custard 7631 W. Layton Ave. Greenfield, WI 53220 Kopp’s Frozen Custard is a landmark in the Metro-Milwaukee area. Famous for our delicious frozen custard and equally tasty jumbo burgers. Founded in 1950, Kopp’s Frozen Custard has been serving up these delectable midwestern treats ever since.

4 zaffiro’s pizza

1724 N Farwell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202 In 1956, Bobby opened Zaffiro’s Restaurant At that time the restaurant had only a few tables and a service bar. The specialty of the house was Bobby’s thin-crust pizza, which Zaffiro’s is known for today. The sauce for the pasta dishes was Bobby’s wife Rose’s family’s recipe.

6 oakland gyros

2867 N Oakland Ave Milwaukee, WI Oakland Gyros has long been a staple in Milwaukee, especially with the late night crowd. Serving up mouth watering gyros, burgers, hot dogs and fries in it’s original location for over 20 years.

8 smoke shack

332 N Milwaukee St, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Smoke Shack knows that people feel strongly about their barbecue so whether it’s grilled or smoked, sauced or rubbed, pork or beef they are excited to share their style of BBQ. Certified humanely raised meats are dry rubbed, slow smoked and sauced by you.

10 emperor of china

1010 E Brady St, Milwaukee, WI 53202 The Emperor of China serves up Milwaukee’s finest Chinese cuisine. Our menu offers a variety of regional creations from our provinced schools of cooking, whether its Szechwan, Hunan, Shanghai, Peking, or Cantonese style you will find it here.

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By: Tom Pelletier Illustrations By: Darcy Guenterberg

As someone who once unwittingly swam with marine jellyfish on a New Jersey beach many years ago, my first question after learning there was such a thing as a freshwater jellyfish was, "Do they sting?!"

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The answer is, yes and no. Though craspedacustathey have stinging cells on their tentacles and can paralyze tiny prey, the stingers apparently aren't long enough to penetrate human skin. With that fear answered in a reassuring way, my next question was, "Why have I never heard of them?" The answer to that question is a little more complicated.

The scientific name of the freshwater jellyfish found in North America is Craspedacusta sowerbii, and the few people who know of its existence tend to call it Craspedacusta. That's not very short for a nickname, but it does roll off the tongue once you get it started.

Craspedacusta is a member of the Cnidaria (nI-'darE-a), an ancient phylum of animals that includes hydras, marine jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones.

There are two basic body types among Cnidarians, the attached polyp form (think of the familiar hydra from high school biology, or, in a larger version, a sea anemone) and the free-swimming medusa (jellyfish) form. Some Cnidarians, including most marine jellyfish, have both a polyp and a medusa form.

Craspedacusta, though it is more closely related to hydras than to marine jellyfish, also has both a polyp and medusa stage.

The polyp stage of Craspedacusta is so nondescript that few people would ever see it unless they were specifically looking for it - and knew exactly what to look for. It lives underwater, attached to rocks, plants, and dead wood, and is only a millimeter high.

If you laid them end to end, you could fit about 15

swimming until, like the frustule, it finds a good spot

Craspedacusta polyps across a penny. If you know

and attaches itself to form a polyp.

how to find Craspedacusta polyps, however, you

A mature Craspedacusta jellyfish is about the size

don't have to look far. They can be found in all kinds

of a quarter, perfectly round, ringed with stinging

of fresh water in North America, from ponds and

tentacles, and nearly transparent. One researcher

lakes to large rivers and small streams. Doug Smith,

calculated that they are 99.26% water. Despite their

a professor of invertebrate biology at the University

water in water nature, people do see them, and when

of Massachusetts in Amherst, says he finds them just

they do, it's an event not soon forgotten. Dr. Boyd

about everywhere he looks.

Kynard, a fish behaviorist in the Natural Resource Conservation Department at the University of Massachusetts, saw a "bloom" of Craspedacusta medusae in a man-made lake in Arizona 25 years ago.

He still remembers it as "One of the most amazing things I've ever seen in freshwater. There were tens of thousands of them. I've been looking for them ever since, but I've never seen them again." Doug Smith, who, like Boyd Kynard, spends a large part of his

The medusa stage occurs as part of Craspedacusta's

life around fresh water, says he has seen the

complex reproductive cycles. Craspedacusta is

medusae only twice.

capable of reproducing in at least three ways. A polyp can grow a bud that matures to full size, and

So why are the medusae so rarely seen, and what

as many as two dozen polyps can become attached

triggers them in certain places at certain times?

this way to form a colony. A polyp can also create a

Those are questions that Dr. Terry Peard and his

bud that becomes a "frustule," a tiny crawling larva

team of graduate students at Indiana University

that eventually finds a good spot, attaches itself at

of Pennsylvania are trying to answer by creating

one end, and develops into a polyp. Finally, the polyp

a national database of Craspedacusta medusae

can bud off a medusa, a miniature jellyfish less than a

sightings. Temperature seems to play some role in

millimeter in diameter. An individual medusa, when

triggering the medusa stage, which is why there is

mature, will produce either sperm or eggs which are

a freshwater jellyfish season, typically from August

released into the water and combine to form another

to September, extending a little later into the fall

type of larva called a planula larva. This larva is free-

further south. But temperature alone doesn't seem to

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be the answer. In some lakes and ponds there will be

fact, Craspedacusta polyps are now found on every

jellyfish one summer and not the next, even though

continent except Antarctica. And everywhere except

the water temperature reaches the same levels. In

China, the appearance of the medusa is sporadic and

other lakes, the jellyfish appear nearly every summer.

unpredictable, and almost always of one sex or the other.

The other great mystery of Craspedacusta is why the jellyfish produced in any one body of water are,

So the idea of going out looking for Craspedacusta

with only a couple of documented exceptions, all one

jellyfish is not an altogether practical one. But now

sex or the other, most often female. The only place

that I know that they are out there somewhere -- a freshwater jellyfish -- I'm going to be watching for them. Maybe, if I'm lucky, some day I'll be in the right place, and it'll be jellyfish season.

where male and female medusae are regularly found together is in the Yantzge River in China. That's one of the reasons that the Yantzge River basin is considered to be the original home of Craspedacusta.

We do know for sure that Craspedacusta isn't native to North America. One theory is that Craspedacusta polyps arrived attached to water lilies imported from China by way of Great Britain in the 1890s.

However it got here, Craspedacusta spread rapidly so that it is now found all over the United States. In

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contributors: authors: Dan Brantl Julie Schnittka Lori Rotenberk

Alysse Smith Nikaela Marie Peters Tom Pelletier

photographers: Andrea Bennett George Chistoph

illustrators: Andrea Bennett Darcy Gutenberg

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