Aurelia Aurita Research Articles

DNA Barcoding of Moon Jellyfish (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Ulmaridae, Aurelia): Two Cryptic Species from the Azores (NE Atlantic, Macaronesia), and Evaluation of the Non-Indigenous Species (NIS)

Moon jellies are some of the most popular, widely distributed, and best-studied marine jellyfish. By the end of the past century only two or three Aurelia species were recognized, but with the rise of DNA barcoding studies, around thirty Aurelia species are presently accepted. Most of the species are morphologically indistinguishable and have restricted biogeography. We reveal, with COI, 16S, and ITS1-5.8S sequence data, two (pseudo-)cryptic species of Aurelia, potentially endemic to the Azores ecoregion, herein provisionally classified as A. “cf. pseudosolida” and A. “misteriosa”. These species are closely related to the Mediterranean lineages of A. pseudosolida and A. persea, respectively. In the Azores, the shape of the campanula and oral arms readily distinguishes the two species: the former with folded oral arms and globose campanula, and the latter with flattened campanula and thick and long oral arms. Previous reports of A. solida and A. aurita in the Azores should generally correspond to A. “misteriosa” and A. cf. pseudosolida, respectively. The phylogenetic (re-)examination of the available DNA barcodes of Aurelia only evidenced human-mediated dispersal for A. coerulea, A. relicta, and A. aurita. Aurelia solida cannot be yet considered NIS in the Mediterranean. More jellyfish DNA (meta)barcoding should reveal further cryptic diversity, biological invasions, and phylogeographic inferences.

Selective feeding protects moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita s.l.) from overloading with microplastics

Jellyfish blooms may be important bioindicators for marine ecosystem degradation, including the accumulation of microplastics in pelagic food webs. Here we show growth, respiration and filtration rates of the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita s.l.) when fed high concentrations (350 L−1) of zooplankton prey (Artemia salina nauplii) and polystyrene (PS) or reference particles (charcoal; size range 50–500 μm). Our controlled feeding experiments reveal that inedible particles are ingested less efficiently compared to prey (retention efficiency ~60 % for PS) and actively removed from the gastrovascular system of ephyrae and medusae. Increased metabolic demands for excretion of inedible material (up to 76.7 ± 3.1 % of ingested prey biomass) suggest that overloading with microplastics can decelerate growth (observed maxima 26.1 % d−1 and 12.6 % d−1, respectively) and reproductive rates when food is limited. Possible consequences of this selective feeding strategy in response to proceeding microplastic pollution in the world's future oceans are discussed.

Hanging under the ledge: synergistic consequences of UVA and UVB radiation on scyphozoan polyp reproduction and health.

Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) emitted by the sun can damage and kill living cells in animals, plants, and microorganisms. In aquatic environments, UVR can penetrate nearly 47 m into the water column, severely impacting many marine organisms. Jellyfish are often considered resilient to environmental stressors, potentially explaining their success in environmentally disturbed areas, but the extent of their resilience to UVR is not well known. Here, we tested resiliency to UVR by exposing benthic polyps of the moon jellyfish, Aurelia sp., to UVA and UVB-the two types of UVR that reach Earth's surface-both separately and in combination. We quantified asexual reproduction rates and polyp attachment to hard substrate, in addition to qualitative observations of polyp health. There were no differences in asexual reproduction rates between polyps exposed to isolated UVA and polyps that received no UVR. Polyps reproduced when exposed to short term (∼7-9 days) isolated UVB, but long-term exposure limited reproduction and polyp attachment to the substrate. When exposed to both UVA and UVB, polyps were unable to feed and unable to remain attached to the substrate, did not reproduce, and ultimately, experienced 100% mortality within 20 days. Although many studies only examine the effects of UVB, the combination of UVA and UVB here resulted in greater negative impacts than either form of UVR in isolation. Therefore, studies that only examine effects of UVB potentially underestimate environmentally relevant effects of UVR. These results suggest that polyps are unsuccessful under UVR stress, so the planula larval stage must settle in low-UVR environments to establish the success of the polyp stage.

Structure and Diversity of <i>Tc1</i>/<i>mariner</i> Transposons in the Genome of the Jellyfish <i>Aurelia aurita</i>

Transposable elements, DNA transposons and retrotransposons are DNA sequences capable of movement within the genome. It is assumed that they play one of their key roles in adaptive and evolutionary processes. One of the most studied groups of DNA transposons is the infraclass ITm, and in particular the superfamily Tc1/mariner. In this work, we considered the representation, structure, and evolution of Tc1/mariner DNA transposons in the jellyfish Aurelia aurita. It was found that the predominant proportion of Tc1/mariner elements of the jellyfish is represented by the TLE family. A new subfamily of TLE elements called Aurum has been identified. In addition, two groups of elements VS-aura and VS-beplau were found in the Visitor family, which are probably also separate subfamilies. Analysis of the structure and diversity of Tc1/mariner elements showed that at the moment Tc1/mariner transposons in the jellyfish genome are at the stage of degradation and elimination. Almost all elements are deleted or have structural changes, and, accordingly, do not have potentially functional copies.

Structure and Diversity of Tc1/mariner DNA Transposons in the Genome of the Jellyfish Aurelia aurita

Structure and Diversity of Tc1/mariner DNA Transposons in the Genome of the Jellyfish Aurelia aurita

ТРОФИЧЕСКИЕ ОСНОВЫ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ ЗАПАСОВ ХАМСЫ В АЗОВСКОМ МОРЕ

Formation of the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus (Linnaeus, 1758) stocks in the Azov Sea depends on the development of zooplankton, which is the main food source for this fish species. Under the conditions of the natural flow regime of the rivers (1937-1951) and the 10.6 ‰ salinity of the sea, native zooplankton species ensured a high food supply for the anchovy, which resulted in relatively large anchovy stocks. During the Azov Sea salinization up to 12.8 ‰ that occurred in the late 60-70s of the last century, the zooplankton species composition changed. Predatory scyphoid jellyfish species - Aurelia aurita and Rhizostoma pulmo - underwent drastic increase in abundance, which led to the reduction in the summer biomass of the zooplankton almost by half. During that period, large stocks of the European anchovy developed less often. In the late 1980s, as a result of the introduction of a predatory ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Azov Sea, the summer biomass of the zooplankton decreased further by 2-3 orders of magnitude. During the feeding season of the European anchovy, the areas with high zooplankton productivity disappeared, which resulted in the recurring low stocks of this fish species. At the end of the 1990s, a ctenophore Beroe ovata , feeding on the mnemiopsis, appeared in the Azov Sea. Its invasion led the delayed entry of the mnemiopsis into the sea, which, in turn, ensured the development of a sufficient food supply for the anchovy during its pre-spawning period. However, the main feeding season of the anchovy, just as before the arrival of B. ovata , took place under a shortage of the food supply. In the last few years, another increase in salinity to 15.0 ‰ is observed in the Azov Sea. The Black Sea jellyfishes A. aurita and R. pulmo are actively developing once again and, along with M. leidyi , provide even stronger food competition for the anchovy. During these years, only low-productive generations and low stocks of this fish species have been observed.

Bio-Inspired Transparent Soft Jellyfish Robot.

Jellyfish are among the widely distributed nature creatures that can effectively control the fluidic flow around their transparent soft body, thus achieving movements in the water and camouflage in the surrounding environments. Till now, it remains a challenge to replicate both transparent appearance and functionalities of nature jellyfish in synthetic systems due to the lack of transparent actuators. In this work, a fully transparent soft jellyfish robot is developed to possess both transparency and bio-inspired omni motions in water. This robot is driven by transparent dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) using hybrid silver nanowire networks and conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/waterborne polyurethane as compliant electrodes. The electrode exhibits large stretchability, low stiffness, high transmittance, and excellent conductivity at large strains. Consequently, the highly transparent DEA based on this hybrid electrode, with Very-High-Bond membranes as dielectric layers and polydimethylsiloxane as top coating, can achieve a maximum area strain of 146% with only 3% hysteresis loss. Driven by this transparent DEA, the soft jellyfish robot can achieve vertical and horizontal movements in water, by mimicking the actual pulsating rhythm of an Aurelia aurita. The bio-inspired robot can serve multiple functions as an underwater soft robot. The hybrid electrodes and bio-inspired design approach are potentially useful in a variety of soft robots and flexible devices.

In silico characterization of Cnidarian’s antimicrobial peptides

The characterization of active compounds in Cnidaria sheds light on a large bank of substances against multiresistant bacteria related to diseases in humans, which makes it a cutting edge with a repertoire of antimicrobial molecules worthy of bioprospecting analysis. Thus, the main nabof this research was to characterize antimicrobial peptides (AMP) belonging to the defensin family in different species of Cnidarians through bioinformatic approaches. To this, an exhaustive search was carried out for sequences homologous to antimicrobial peptides belonging to the defensin family in genomes availables for Cnidarians. Also, 3D models of AMP were obtained by modeling based on homology, functional characterization of peptides found was performed with machine learning approaches. Characterization of twelve peptides derived from 11 Cnidarian species was possible due to 3D modeling, which showed structural similarity with defensins reported in several species such as Nasonia vitripennis, Pisum sativum, Solanum lycopersicum, and Aurelia aurita. Also, different physicochemical properties such as hydrophobic moment, hydrophobicity, net charge, amphiphilic index, and isoelectric point were evaluated. These peptides showed values ​​that are ideal for AMP. Further, functional characterization showed a bactericidal potential of 20 peptides against multiresistant bacteria Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These peptides with action potential were found in 17 species from Cnidarians and obtained by homology through the defensin Aurelin, described in the Cnidarian Aurelia aurita, and Mus musculus’ Beta-defensin 7. Finally, a phylogenetic tree was performed, it showed that defensins are distributed in all Cnidarians regardless of the taxonomic group. Thus, the origin of defensins in the Phylum Cnidaria is not monophyletic. Our results show that Cnidaria has AMP with structural and physicochemical characteristics similar to those described in defensins of insects, mammals, and plants. The structural characteristics of these peptides, their physicochemical properties, and their functional potential outline them as promising templates for the discovery of new antibiotics.

How Much Recurrent Outbreaks of the Moon Jellyfish May Impact the Dynamics of Bacterial Assemblages in Coastal Lagoons?

The moon jellyfish Aurelia coerulea (Scyphozoa) is one of the most common and largest jellyfish inhabiting coastal lagoons, confined bays, and marinas of temperate and subtropical coastal waters. The annual population dynamics of A. coerulea along with some bacterial parameters (bacterial size and biomass, total coliforms, faecal coliforms, intestinal enterococci, culturable Vibrio spp., and culturable bacteria at 37 °C), sea surface temperature (SST), salinity, and an array of nutrients (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, silicates, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus) were assessed in the Varano lagoon (Adriatic Sea) that is subject to anthropogenic pollution. Statistical analyses revealed that jellyfish outbreaks and their consequent biomass deposition significantly correlated to seawater temperature, total nitrogen, phosphates, and ammonia concentrations while negative correlations appeared with nitrite and nitrate concentrations. In addition, bacterial biomass and Vibrio abundance correlated with each other and temperature, jellyfish density, and total nitrogen. These findings suggest that environmental changes could trigger the occurrence of jellyfish bursts in the lagoon which, in turn, may act as one of the central drivers of processes regulating some bacterial components. The positive relationship between jellyfish flush-and-crash dynamics and SST suggests that ongoing global warming will seemingly increase jellyfish outbreaks.

Superfluous Feeding and Growth of Jellyfish Aurelia aurita

According to a recently presented bioenergetic model for the weight-specific growth rate of jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, fed brine shrimp, Artemia salina, the specific growth will remain high and constant at prey concentrations > 6 Artemia l−1. The aim of the present study was to verify this statement by conducting controlled feeding and growth experiments on small jellyfish in tanks. It was found that prey organisms offered in concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 Artemia l−1 resulted in specific growth rates in fair agreement with the model-predicted rates. The high prey concentrations resulted in superfluous feeding and production of pseudofeces which indicated that not all captured prey organisms were ingested but instead entangled in mucus and dropped. The high prey concentrations did not influence the filtration rate of the jellyfish.

Jelly-Z: Twisted and coiled polymer muscle actuated jellyfish robot for environmental monitoring

Silent underwater actuation and object detection are desired for certain applications in environmental monitoring. However, several challenges need to be faced when addressing simultaneously the issues of actuation and object detection using vision system. This paper presents a swimming underwater soft robot inspired by the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) species and other similar robots; however, this robot uniquely utilizes novel artificial muscles and incorporates camera for visual information processing. The actuation characteristics of the novel artificial muscles in water are presented which can be used for any other applications. The bio-inspired robot, Jelly-Z, has the following characteristics: (1) The integration of three 60 mm-long twisted, and coiled polymer fishing line (TCPFL) muscles in a silicone bell to achieve contraction and expansion motions for swimming; (2) A Jevois camera is mounted on Jelly-Z to perform object detection while swimming using a pre-trained neural network; (3) Jelly-Z weighs a total of 215 g with all its components and is capable of swimming 360 mm in 63 seconds. The present work shows, for the first time, the integration of camera detection and TCPFL actuators in an underwater soft jellyfish robot, and the associated performance characteristics. This kind of robot can be a good platform for monitoring of aquatic environment either for detection of objects by estimating the percentage of similarity to pre-trained network or by mounting sensors to monitor water quality when fully developed.

Ecotoxicity of Polyvinylidene Difluoride (PVDF) and Polylactic Acid (PLA) Microplastics in Marine Zooplankton.

The aim of this study was to investigate the ecotoxicity of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics (MPs) in two marine zooplankton: the crustacean Artemia franciscana and the cnidarian Aurelia sp. (common jellyfish). To achieve this goal, (i) MP uptake, (ii) immobility, and (iii) behavior (swimming speed, pulsation mode) of crustacean larval stages and jellyfish ephyrae exposed to MPs concentrations (1, 10, 100 mg/L) were assessed for 24 h. Using traditional and novel techniques, i.e., epifluorescence microscopy and 3D holotomography (HT), PVDF and PLA MPs were found in the digestive systems of the crustaceans and in the gelatinous tissue of jellyfish. Immobility was not affected in either organism, while a significant behavioral alteration in terms of pulsation mode was found in jellyfish after exposure to both PVDF and PLA MPs. Moreover, PLA MPs exposure in jellyfish induced a toxic effect (EC50: 77.43 mg/L) on the behavioral response. This study provides new insights into PLA and PVDF toxicity with the potential for a large impact on the marine ecosystem, since jellyfish play a key role in the marine food chain. However, further investigations incorporating additional species belonging to other trophic levels are paramount to better understand and clarify the impact of such polymers at micro scale in the marine environment. These findings suggest that although PVDF and PLA have been recently proposed as innovative and, in the case of PLA, biodegradable polymers, their effects on marine biota should not be underestimated.

Transgenerational effects and temperature variation alter life history traits of the moon jellyfish

Understanding the life history strategy of organisms is key to predicting their population dynamics. The population of scyphozoan jellyfish has displayed an increasing trend in recent decades, yet its life history strategy is not fully understood. To interpret the reproduction strategy of scyphozoan jellyfish from an evolutionary ecology perspective, we dissected 10 asexual generations of Aurelia coerulea polyps to investigate the relationships between transgenerational effects on their budding reproduction and strobilation. Our results reveal that a polyp’s average budding reproduction rate declined 32.82% through asexual generations within the experimental time. Furthermore, a longer culture duration counteracted the transgenerational effects on budding rates and strobilation afterward. Thus, this effort provides insight into the necessity of sexual reproduction in organisms involving a metagenic life cycle, i.e., to renew the asexual reproduction ability of a population. Besides this, we suggest taking note that it is necessary to know the “asexual age” of polyps when performing experimental studies and mathematical modeling to explore their population dynamics. Our results also present a valuable data set to interpret the evolution of the scyphozoan jellyfish’s life history strategy under multifactorial environments.

Integrated gene co-expression network analysis reveals unique developmental processes of Aurelia aurita

The typical life cycle of the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) includes the planula, polyp, strobila, ephyra, and medusa developmental stages. These stages exhibit huge differences in both external morphology and internal physiological functions. However, the gene co-expression network involved in these post-embryonic developmental processes has not been studied yet. Here, based on 15 RNA sequencing samples covering all five stages of the A. aurita life cycle, we systematically analyzed the gene co-expression network and obtained 35 relevant modules. Furthermore, we identified the highly correlated modules and hub genes for each stage. These hub genes are implicated to play important roles in the developmental processes of A. aurita, which should help improve our understanding of the jellyfish life cycle.

Public willingness to pay for eradicating a harmful marine organism: the case of Aurelia aurita in South Korea.

Aurelia aurita (AA), a legally registered harmful marine organism in South Korea, is damaging marine human leisure activities, local residents’ tourism income, fisheries, and cooling water intake at power plants. The government is therefore seeking to eradicate AA by removing AA-attached larvae (polyps). This article looks into the public willingness to pay (WTP) for the eradication, utilizing a contingent valuation. For the sake of eliciting the WTP response, the one-and-one-half-bounded (OB) model was adopted. For comparison, the single-bounded (SB) model, which uses only the response to the first question in the OB model, was also applied. A spike model with a considerable plausibility that could explicitly deal with zero WTP responses was employed. Consequently, the estimation results of the SB model were used for further policy analysis. The household average WTP was estimated as KRW 3,911 (USD 3.49) per year, securing statistical significance. The national value was KRW 80.46 billion (USD 71.71 million) per annum. This figure can be interpreted as public value of the AA eradication project and used as essential basic data to evaluate the economic feasibility of implementing the project. Some factors such as income and education level significantly positively affected the intention of paying a suggested bid.

Characterization, cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity of sea urchins (Diadema savignyi) and jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) extracts

The Red Sea is a rich ecosystem with thousands of species containing a variety of bioactive compounds that have potential pharmacological applications. This study will highlight the potential importance of sea urchins and jellyfish extracts. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) revealed many phenolic compounds in the extracts of the sea urchin (Diadema savignyi) and jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). The extracts were also tested for their potential radical scavenging activity as well as their safety and toxicity in vitro and in vivo. Both extracts showed significant total antioxidant capacity (P-value < 0.0001), and free radical scavenging activity (DPPH) compared to ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, P-value < 0.0001). They were found to be safe in vitro and enhanced cell proliferation of fibroblast cells (L929) (P-value < 0.0001), and neuronal cell lines (neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y) (P-value < 0.0001).Intraperitoneal administration of both extracts did not show any significant morbidity within tested concentrations. Liver enzymes (ALT and AST) and renal functions showed no significant changes compared to control. No significant histological changes in the liver or kidney tissues were observed. The current study proved the safety of both sea urchins and jellyfish extracts in vitro and in vivo, which paves the way for further studies on the biomedical application of both extracts in areas of neuroprotection and cancer treatment.

Embryonic development of the moon jellyfish Aurelia aurita (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa): another variant on the theme of invagination.

BackgroundAurelia aurita (Scyphozoa, Cnidaria) is an emblematic species of the jellyfish. Currently, it is an emerging model of Evo-Devo for studying evolution and molecular regulation of metazoans’ complex life cycle, early development, and cell differentiation. For Aurelia, the genome was sequenced, the molecular cascades involved in the life cycle transitions were characterized, and embryogenesis was studied on the level of gross morphology. As a reliable representative of the class Scyphozoa, Aurelia can be used for comparative analysis of embryonic development within Cnidaria and between Cnidaria and Bilateria. One of the intriguing questions that can be posed is whether the invagination occurring during gastrulation of different cnidarians relies on the same cellular mechanisms. To answer this question, a detailed study of the cellular mechanisms underlying the early development of Aurelia is required.MethodsWe studied the embryogenesis of A. aurita using the modern methods of light microscopy, immunocytochemistry, confocal laser microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy.ResultsIn this article, we report a comprehensive study of the early development of A. aurita from the White Sea population. We described in detail the embryonic development of A. aurita from early cleavage up to the planula larva. We focused mainly on the cell morphogenetic movements underlying gastrulation. The dynamics of cell shape changes and cell behavior during invagination of the archenteron (future endoderm) were characterized. That allowed comparing the gastrulation by invagination in two cnidarian species—scyphozoan A. aurita and anthozoan Nematostella vectensis. We described the successive stages of blastopore closure and found that segregation of the germ layers in A. aurita is linked to the ’healing’ of the blastopore lip. We followed the developmental origin of the planula body parts and characterized the planula cells’ ultrastructure. We also found that the planula endoderm consists of three morphologically distinct compartments along the oral-aboral axis.ConclusionsEpithelial invagination is a fundamental morphogenetic movement that is believed as highly conserved across metazoans. Our data on the cell shaping and behaviours driving invagination in A. aurita contribute to understanding of morphologically similar morphogenesis in different animals. By comparative analysis, we clearly show that invagination may differ at the cellular level between cnidarian species belonging to different classes (Anthozoa and Scyphozoa). The number of cells involved in invagination, the dynamics of the shape of the archenteron cells, the stage of epithelial-mesenchymal transition that these cells can reach, and the fate of blastopore lip cells may vary greatly between species. These results help to gain insight into the evolution of morphogenesis within the Cnidaria and within Metazoa in general.

A Modeling Study on Population Dynamics of Jellyfish Aurelia aurita in the Bohai and Yellow Seas

Jellyfish blooms have become a marine environmental issue with detrimental effects on marine ecosystems around the world. The jellyfish Aurelia aurita is one of dominant species of blooms worldwide and also in the Bohai and Yellow Seas (BYSs) of China. To investigate population dynamics and controlling factors on population biomass, a complex population-dynamic model is developed for jellyfish of A. aurita in the BYSs that includes three components, namely, a three-dimensional coupled physical–biogeochemical model, a Lagrangian particle-tracking model, and an energy balance model for the jellyfish life cycle. By comparison, the model well reproduces the individual growth and seasonal evolution of A. aurita population. During individual growth period, the temperature is a key factor controlling growth and dry weight, characterized by a nearly linear growth rate. Longer period tends to favor larger medusa size and further to promote the biomass. The yearly peak biomass shows interannual variations that are controlled by the jellyfish magnitude, food concentration, and effective accumulative temperature of growth, with their contributions quantified through statistical analyses. Only considering the effect of temperature, the yearly peak biomass can be obtained through the durations of suitable temperature ranges for strobilization and individual growth that determines the magnitude and the averaged individual weight, respectively, with longer strobilation duration leading to higher magnitude. The simplified statistical relationships would favor to understand the temperature control on population dynamics of A. aurita.

Analysis Of White Jellyfish (Aurelia Aurita) Processing Business In CV. Almahaera In Puupi Village Of Kolono Districct Of South Konawe Regency

This research aims to find out the process analysis of white jellyfish (aurelia aurita) processing business in cv. almahaera in puupi village of kolono districct of south konawe regency. Determination of the location of the study is done intentionally (purposive). Data collection is done by observation, interview and documeation methods. Respondents in the study were business owners, secretaries and several employees at jellyfish processing companies (Aurelia aurita). The study was analyzed using income analysis. The results showed that the variable total cost of production was produced by a production value of Rp957,435,000, total receipts of Rp2,430,400,000, total revenue of Rp 1,472,965,000 and R/C Ratio of 2.54.

Reduction in Toxicity of Polystyrene Nanoplastics Combined with Phenanthrene through Binding of Jellyfish Mucin with Nanoplastics.

Mucin (Mu), a biological substance extracted from jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), was used to reduce the toxic effect of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NP) combined with phenanthrene (Phe) in the aquatic environment of zebrafish (Danio rerio), among other aquatic organisms. Mu showed a high binding capacity, as it bound to 92.84% and 92.87% of the PS-NPs (concentration of 2.0 mg/L) after 0.5 h and 8 h, respectively. A zebrafish embryo development test was conducted to check for any reduction in toxicity by Mu. When exposed to PS-NP + Mu and PS-NP + Phe + Mu, respectively, the hatching rates were 88.33 ± 20.21% and 93.33 ± 2.89%, respectively; these results were not significantly different from those of the control group. However, the hatching rate with the addition of Mu increased, compared to that of the PS-NP (71.83 ± 13.36%) and Phe (37.50 ± 19.83%) treatments, and the morphological abnormality rate decreased. The presence of Mu was also found to obstruct the absorption of PS-NP and PS-NP + Phe by the zebrafish. When zebrafish embryos were exposed to PS-NP at a concentration of 5.0 mg/L, the hatching rate differed significantly from that of the control group, and the expression of CAT and p53 genes increased significantly, but the expression of Bcl-2 decreased significantly. An mRNA sequence analysis revealed that the gene expression levels of the test group containing Mu were similar to those of the control group. These results infer that Mu can be used as a biological material to collect and remove PS-NPs from aquatic environments and reduce toxicity.