It is a colonial species, having multiple zooids that together comprise a single unit. Each zooid has a specialized function; some help with feeding, some with swimming, reproduction, etc. Including its tentacles, it can reach several meters long. Their tentacles are lined with several nematocysts that provide a sting that defends against predators and helps hunt its prey. It is a carnivore, and, like other siphonophores, eats small crustaceans and even small fish.
Name
Bathyphysa conifera was nicknamed the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for the satirical deity of the Internet, by the oil workers who first saw it in 2015, citing an apparent resemblance.[5] The specific nameconifera, meaning 'cone-bearing',[6] is due to the shape of the cluster of reproductive structures called gonophores.[1] In Japanese it is called マガタマニラ[2][7] / まがたまにら / 勾玉韮[3]magatamanira, "jewel leek". In Chinese, the nickname "Flying Spaghetti Monster" can be translated as 飞行的面条怪兽fēixíng de miàntiáo guàishòu "flying noodles monster".[8]
Although B. conifera may appear to be an individual organism, each specimen is in fact a colonial organism composed of medusoid and polypoidzooids that are morphologically and functionally specialized.[17] Zooids are multicellular units that develop from a single fertilized egg and combine to create functional colonies able to: reproduce, digest, float, and maintain body positioning.[18]
It has a cystonect body plan,[19] meaning it has a pneumatophore, or float, and siphosome, or line of polyps, but no nectosome, or propulsion medusae.[20] Without that propulsion, B. conifera moves through contracting and relaxing the body stem.[18] It differs from members of the genus Rhizophysa by the presence of ptera, or side "wings", on the young gastrozooids, or feeding polyps.[21][13][14] It is distinct from other members of the genus Bathyphysa as its tentacles do not have any side branches, or tentilla.[19][21][13][14][18] Tentilla are thought to be ancestral to siphonophores, and B. conifera likely lost the trait as did Apolemia.[22][18] The tentacles have stinging cells called nematocysts that are haploneme, or uniform in thickness, and have a single size of isorhiza, or anchoring nematocysts.[22]
The entire animal, including tentacles, is several meters long.[14] The feeding polyps are pink when young, before developing tentacles.[14] A mature feeding polyp is yellow with a single tentacle.[14]
Colonies are unisexual,[14] and reproduce by incomplete asexual reproduction.[18] Not much more is known about B. conifera reproduction. Early development of cystonects is not known either.[23] Siphonophores generally start life as a single-celled zygote, which divided and grows into a single polyp called a protozooid.[23][18] The protozooid then divides by budding into all the zooids of the colony.[23] The zooids are homologous to individual animals, but are connected physiologically to each other.[18]
1 2 Studer, Théophile Rudolphe (13 July 1878). von Siebold, Carl Theodor; von Kölliker, Albert; Ehlers, Ernst (eds.). "Ueber Siphonophoren des tiefen Wassers"[About siphonophores of deep water]. Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie (in German). 31: 4–14. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
1 2 山田真弓. "マガタマニラ". コトバンク (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun Company / VOYAGE GROUP, Inc. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017. マガタマニラ まがたまにら / 勾玉韮 [学]Bathyphysa grimaldi
↑ Griffith, Chuck (2005). "Dictionary of Botanical Epithets". Dictionary of Botanical Epithets. Archived from the original on 19 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017. conifer conifera coniferum cone bearing conus con noun/m κωνοϛ cone i i cnct connective vowel used by botanical Latin fer fer apar fero to bear, carry, bring
↑ 沈姝华 (2015-08-13). 王晓易 (ed.). 非洲海岸现不明深海生物 被取名"飞行面条怪兽". 163.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
↑ Costello, Mark J.; Emblow, Chris; White, Richard, eds. (2001). "Ctenophora". European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Patrimoines Naturels. Vol.50. Paris: Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. p.122. hdl:2292/19517. ISBN978-2-85653-538-7. ISSN1281-6213. Order Cystonectae Family Physaliidae Family Rhizophysidae Bathyphysa conifera (Studer, 1878) A
↑ Cairns, Stephen D.; Calder, Dale R.; Brinckmann-Voss, Anita; Castro, Clovis B.; Fautin, Daphne G.; Pugh, Philip R.; Mills, Claudia E.; Jaap, Walter C.; Arai, Mary N.; Haddock, Steven H. D.; Opresko, Dennis M. (2002). Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic Invertebrates from the United States and Canada: Cnidaria and Ctenophora (Seconded.). Bethesda, Maryland: American Fisheries Society. pp.29, 61. ISBN978-1-888569-39-1. ISSN0097-0638.
1 2 3 Jones, Daniel O.B., Gates, A.R., Curry, R.A., Thomson, M., Pile, A., Benfield, M. (Eds) (2009). SERPENT project. Media database archive. Available online at http://archive.serpentproject.com/2621/Archived 2017-06-25 at the Wayback Machine accessed on Fri Sep 01 2017
1 2 3 Pacific, Aquarium of the. "Pelagic Siphonophore". www.aquariumofpacific.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-18. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Munro, Catriona; Siebert, Stefan; Zapata, Felipe; Howison, Mark; Damian Serrano, Alejandro; Church, Samuel H.; Goetz, Freya E.; Pugh, Philip R.; Haddock, Steven H.D.; Dunn, Casey W. (2018-01-20). "Improved phylogenetic resolution within Siphonophora (Cnidaria) with implications for trait evolution". bioRxiv10.1101/251116.
1 2 3 Janssen, John; Gibbs Jr., Robert H.; Pugh, Phil R. (27 February 1989). "Association of Caristius sp. (Pisces: Caristiidae) with a siphonophore, Bathyphysa conifera". Copeia. 1989 (1): 198–201. doi:10.2307/1445624. JSTOR1445624.
1 2 Damian-Serrano, Alejandro; Haddock, Steven H.D.; Dunn, Casey W. (12 June 2019). "The Evolution of Siphonophore Tentilla as Specialized Tools for Prey Capture". bioRxiv10.1101/653345.
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