Formation of Chaotic Patterns of the Gastrovascular System in the Ontogenesis of the Medusa Aurelia aurita

Only the first branching of the perradial and interradial channels of the gastrovascular system of Aurelia aurita (L.) (Scyphozoa: Ulmaridae) in the metaephyra stage is always uniform. Further branch formation is variable and random. New branches originate most often at the annular channel, but some of them grow from the radial channels. The early formation of irregular and chaotic patterns of the radial channel branching is caused by the asynchrony and topographic variability of the generation of new branches of different channels. During further morphogenesis, the spatial and temporal variability of branching increases, which leads to an increased state of chaos in the morphology of the branching channels of each individual. Lack of rigid determinancy of the gastrovascular system channel branching and plasticity of this system in the course of the entire ontogenesis provide possible evidence of its adaptive responses, for example, to the disruption of tetraradial symmetry or rearrangements after damage.