Challenging the Inverse Temperature-Size Paradigm: A Model of Quantum Metabolic Theory and Exometric Scaling in Pelagic Cnidaria Under Thermohaline Regime Density Levels

The Temperature-Size Rule; a widely accepted bio-ecological principle, posits that ectothermic organisms mature at a smaller body size in warmer steady state conditions. However, pelagic cnidarians such as jellyfish and siphonophores consistently present an exception to this rule. This paradox is observed with such cnidarians exhibiting neutral or even positive size responses to warming conditions in both field and laboratory studies. This not only challenges the universality of the Temperature-Size Rule but also conflicts with established endometric scaling models which prioritize body mass as the primary determinant of metabolic rate. This paper seeks to propose a new model that resolves the "jellyfish paradox" with an updated exometric framework, whereby environmental properties, specifically those integrated by the thermohaline regime, act as primary modulators of physiological changes. This perspective positions thermohaline regime density as a quasi-master dial; a physical variable that concurrently determines the effects of temperature and salinity on the degree of development of the aqueous medium. Furthermore, in rooting the framework in thermohaline regime density we are able to integrate established principles of quantum biology, wherein processes such as proton tunneling and coherent energy transfer in mitochondrial electron transport chains are not only temperature-invariant but are also exometrically sensitive to their immediate aqueous environment. We synthesize these concepts into a novel Quantum-Exometric Scaling (QES) model. This QES model predicts that the optimal body size for pelagic cnidarians is not a simple inverse function of temperature but is determined by the synergistic effects of temperature and salinity on water density, viscosity, and ionic strength, which in turn alter the quantum efficiency of core metabolic processes. We hypothesize that the sign and magnitude of the temperature-size relationship in these organisms are conditional upon thermohaline density, providing a predictive framework that reconciles their anomalous responses within a broader biophysical context.