In 2014, during the opening ceremony for the new Kamo Aquarium the idea was born to organize for the next year an International Jellyfish Conference and to invite jellyfish specialists from all over the world for this conference at the Kamo Aquarium.
But at that time no one believed in the real success of such a conference. However, the 3rd International Jellyfish Conference has already taken place this year and the 4th is already scheduled for autumn 2021.
After the 2nd IJC at the Haichang Polar Ocean World in Tianjin/China in 2017, the host for the 3rd IJC was the Takeshima Deep Sea Aquarium in Gamagori/Japan. The conference was held on February 23/24, 2020 and a Post Conference Tour to other zoos and aquariums in the Nagoya area was organized for February 24-26. The relatively small, but well managed and attractive Takeshima Deep Sea Aquarium was an excellent host and the participants appreciated very much the great hospitality of the aquarium staff and also the support of the city.
Although some were unable to attend the conference due to travel restrictions as a result of the global corona virus infection, almost 40 jellyfish specialists from Australia, France, Germany and Japan met for an intensive exchange of experiences. It should be particularly emphasized that this time all 4 founding members of the International Jellyfish Conference (Yoshitaka ABE, Jurgen LANGE, Tatsuo MURAKAMI and Motofumi TAI) were present and reported on their many years of aquarium experience and the keeping of difficult marine invertebrates.
During the 2 days-conference 10 presentations described the different conditions of the various zoos and aquariums and were devoted to topics of the transport, the keeping, the exhibition and the breeding of jellyfish and deep-sea invertebrates, but also of nudibranchs.
The Nagoya Zoo with its rather small aquarium, but with its excellently planted fresh water section, the Ise Sea Paradise with its extraordinary sea mammal shows, the traditional Shima Marineland with its well-known husbandry of Ocean sun fish and famous feeding shows by an Ama diver, and last but not least the Toba Aquarium with its long-term husbandry of dugongs were the most important destinations during the Post Conference Tour.
At the end all agreed that the 3rd IJC was a perfect success again and everybody is looking forward for the 4th International Jellyfish Conference which will be hosted by Nausicaa in Boulogne-sur-Mer/France and held in November 2021 in combination with the 11th International Aquarium Congress.