Abstract 

About 40 years ago, the breeding and year-round exhibition of jellyfish has started in aquariums. In the meantime, the exhibition of jellyfish has spread all over the world and is today an attraction factor for modern aquariums. In 2014 the Japanese Kamo Aquarium in Tsuruoka reopened its new building. In this new Kamo Aquarium, jellyfish play no longer a secondary role in the exhibition, but they are the main exhibits. People come to the Kamo Aquarium not to see great variety of the underwater fauna, but to see jellyfish with transparent bodies and elegant movements.

Nevertheless, even in this famous jellyfish Aquarium most of the skills required for keeping and breeding jellyfish are self-taught. Only small information is exchanged from institute to institute. This is not a question of professional secrets, but there was no common platform where jellyfish keepers could meet and exchange their experiences with each other.

Therefore, during the reopening ceremonies of the Kamo Aquarium the idea was born to organize an international jellyfish conference and it was agreed to invite for a 1st International Jellyfish Conference at the Kamo Aquarium in spring 2015. The 4 founders for this initiative were: Yoshitaka Abe, Director of Aquamarine Fukushima, Jurgen Lange, Past Director of the Berlin Zoo & Aquarium, Tatsuo Murakami, at that time Director of the Kamo Aquarium, and Motofumi Tai, editor of the largest Japanese Zoo Magazine “Animal Kingdom”.

After the great success of the both International Jellyfish Conferences at the Kamo Aquarium in 2015 and at the Haichang Ocean World Tianjin in 2020, the 3rd IJC will be hosted by the Takeshima “Deep Sea” Aquarium in Gamagori City, near to Nagoya. Because the Takeshima Aquarium is specialized on deep sea animals, the presentations of the 3rd IJC will deal not only with the husbandry of jellyfish but also with the husbandry of deep sea invertebrates. Guest speakers are famous jellyfish and deep sea specialists from all over the world.

But like at the former both International Jellyfish Conferences we ask you also this time to present at the conference your own experiences in keeping jellyfish or deep sea animals. We are looking forward to see you all at the Takeshima Deep Sea Aquarium in February 2020!

Jurgen Lange the founder of IJC
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