| Alepas pacifica | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Crustacea |
| Class: | Thecostraca |
| Subclass: | Cirripedia |
| Order: | Scalpellomorpha |
| Family: | Heteralepadidae |
| Genus: | Alepas |
| Species: | A. pacifica |
| Binomial name | |
| Alepas pacifica | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Alepas pacifica is a species of goose barnacle in the family Heteralepadidae. It is a pelagic species and is an obligate associate of various species of jellyfish. It mainly occurs in the Pacific Ocean.
Alepas pacifica is a whitish, translucent species of stalked barnacle. Its plates are lightweight, only partially calcified and much reduced in size. [2] [3]
Alepas pacifica is found in tropical and subtropical waters in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, its range extending from Australia and Malaysia to China, Japan and the western coast of North America. It is also known from the Atlantic Ocean. [2]
Alepas pacifica lives in association with a jellyfish such as the ghost jellyfish Cyanea nozaki. [3] In this association it hangs from the margin of the bell. It is a similar colour to the whitish jellyfish, which makes it inconspicuous. It is a permanent resident, always associating with a jellyfish, and making use of the rich food supply in the surface waters in which the jellyfish floats. [3]
Other jellyfish which this barnacle uses as a host include Nomura's jellyfish (Nemopilema nomurai), [4] the egg-yolk jellyfish (Phacellophora camtschatica), the purple-stripe jellyfish (Chrysaora colorata), and several other scyphozoan species. In the case of the egg-yolk jellyfish, a group of barnacles may be attached to the outside of the domed top of the bell, looking rather like an article of headwear. It is not apparent that the jellyfish is disadvantaged by the presence of the barnacle. [5]
Although normally a direct symbiont of jellyfish, this barnacle has been found attached to another barnacle of its own species which was itself attached to a jellyfish. These indirectly attached individuals were small and had longer penes than their directly attached counterparts, and may have acted as dwarf males. [4]
A barnacle is a type of arthropod constituting the subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile (nonmobile) and most are suspension feeders, but those in infraclass Rhizocephala are highly specialized parasites on crustaceans. They have four nektonic larval stages. Around 1,000 barnacle species are currently known. The name "Cirripedia" is Latin, meaning "curl-footed". The study of barnacles is called cirripedology.
The lion's mane jellyfish, also known as the giant jellyfish, arctic red jellyfish, or the hair jelly, is one of the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans. It is common in the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea, and in western Scandinavian waters south to Kattegat and Øresund. It may also drift into the southwestern part of the Baltic Sea. Similar jellyfish – which may be the same species – are known to inhabit seas near Australia and New Zealand. The largest recorded specimen was measured off the coast of Massachusetts in 1870 and had a bell with a diameter of 210 centimetres and tentacles around 36.6 m (120 ft) long. Lion's mane jellyfish have been observed below 42°N latitude for some time in the larger bays of the east coast of the United States.
Aequorea victoria, also sometimes called the crystal jelly, is a bioluminescent hydrozoan jellyfish, or hydromedusa, that is found off the west coast of North America.
The Soko Islands are a group of islands in Hong Kong. The group consists of Tai A Chau, Siu A Chau and several smaller nearby islands, in the southwesternmost waters of the territory, to the southwest of Lantau Island.
Argonauta hians, also known as the winged argonaut, muddy argonaut or brown paper nautilus, is a species of pelagic octopus. The common name comes from the grey to brown coloured shell. The Chinese name for this species translates as "Grey Sea-horse's Nest". The female of the species, like all argonauts, creates a paper-thin eggcase that coils around the octopus much like the way a nautilus lives in its shell. The eggcase is characterised by a wide keel that gives it a square appearance, few rounded tubercles along the keel, and less than 40 smooth ribs across the sides of the shell. The shell is usually approximately 80 mm in length, although it can exceed 120 mm in exceptional specimens; the world record size is 121.5 mm.
Phacellophora camtschatica, commonly known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish in the family Phacellophoridae. This species can be easily identified by the yellow coloration in the center of its body which closely resembles an egg yolk, hence how it got its common name. Some individuals can have a bell close to 60 cm (2 ft) in diameter, and most individuals have 16 clusters of up to a few dozen tentacles, each up to 6 m (20 ft) long. A smaller jellyfish, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, typically found in warmer water, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, is also popularly called a fried egg jellyfish. Also, P. camtschatica is sometimes confused with the Lion's mane jellyfish.
Coenobita perlatus is a species of terrestrial hermit crab. It is known as the strawberry hermit crab because of its reddish-orange colours. It is a widespread scavenger across the Indo-Pacific, and is also traded to hobby aquarists.
Phyllorhiza punctata is a species of jellyfish, also known as the floating bell, Australian spotted jellyfish, brown jellyfish or the white-spotted jellyfish. It is native to the western Pacific from Australia to Japan, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It feeds primarily on zooplankton. P. punctata generally can reach up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in bell diameter, but in October 2007, one 72 cm (28 in) wide, perhaps the largest ever recorded, was found on Sunset Beach, North Carolina.
The mangrove horseshoe crab, also known as the round-tailed horseshoe crab, is a chelicerate arthropod found in tropical marine and brackish waters in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. It may also occur in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and the Philippines, but confirmed records are lacking.
Perna viridis, known as the Asian green mussel, is an economically important mussel, a bivalve belonging to the family Mytilidae. It is harvested for food but is also known to harbor toxins and cause damage to submerged structures such as drainage pipes. It is native in the Asia-Pacific region but has been introduced in the Caribbean, and in the waters around Japan, North America, and South America.
The sand isopod, Chiridotea coeca, is a species of isopod crustacean found in the western Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Florida.
Dromia dormia, the sleepy sponge crab or common sponge crab, is the largest species of sponge crab. It grows to a carapace width of 20 cm (8 in) and lives in shallow waters across the Indo-Pacific region.
Megabalanus tintinnabulum is a species of large barnacle in the family Balanidae. It is the type species of the genus. The specific name comes from the Latin tintinnabulum meaning a handbell and probably refers to the fact that small groups of barnacles resemble clusters of miniature bells.
Phoronis australis is a species of marine horseshoe worm in the phylum Phoronida. It is found in shallow warm-temperate and tropical waters in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific region and was first detected in the Mediterranean Sea in the late twentieth century. These worms live in association with tube-dwelling anemones, particularly those in the genus Cerianthus.
Cyanea nozakii or Cyanea nozaki (misspelling), commonly known as the ghost jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish found in the northern Pacific Ocean near the coasts of China and Japan. Along with other species of large jellyfish, it is showing a greater tendency to appear in large numbers and cause blooms.
Alepas is a genus of goose barnacles in the family Heteralepadidae.
Armina babai is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Arminidae.
Chrysaora pacifica, commonly named the Japanese sea nettle, is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae. This common species is native to the northwest Pacific Ocean, including Japan and Korea, but it was formerly confused with the larger and more northerly distributed C. melanaster. As a consequence, individuals kept in public aquariums have often been mislabelled as C. melanaster. The medusae of C. pacifica typically has a bell with a diameter of 15–21 cm (5.9–8.3 in). Its sting is strong and can be dangerous to humans.
Conchoderma virgatum is a species of goose barnacle in the family Lepadidae. It is a pelagic species found in open water in most of the world's oceans attached to drifting objects or marine organisms.
Cephea cephea, the crowned jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Cepheidae. It occurs in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific to Northern Australia. The species was first described by Peter Forsskål in 1775 and originally given the name Medusa cephea. It inhabits the pelagic zone of tropical and sub-tropical waters and is most commonly found in the Indo-West Pacific, eastern Atlantic and the Red Sea. Although this species is among the most venomous jellyfish, it is not harmful to humans and is eaten as a delicacy and used for medical purposes in China and Japan. The species can achieve a diameter of up to 60 cm.