| Bathyphysa conifera | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Hydrozoa |
| Order: | Siphonophorae |
| Family: | Rhizophysidae |
| Genus: | Bathyphysa |
| Species: | B. conifera |
| Binomial name | |
| Bathyphysa conifera | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Bathyphysa conifera, sometimes called the flying spaghetti monster, is a bathypelagic [2] species of siphonophore in the family Rhizophysidae. It is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Southwestern Africa and California.
Bathyphysa conifera was nicknamed the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for the satirical deity of the Internet, by the oil workers who first saw it. [5] The specific epithet conifera, 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]
Bathyphysa conifera has been found in the Northeast [9] and Northwest Atlantic Ocean, [10] off the coast of Gabon [11] [12] and as far south as Angola, [13] [14] and in Monterey Bay in the Pacific Ocean. [15] [2] It has been found in warm temperatures. [16]
Although B. conifera may appear to be an individual organism, each specimen is in fact a colonial organism composed of medusoid and polypoid zooids 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]
Like many siphonophores, [17] it is carnivorous. [2] [18] The typical siphonophore diet consists of a variety of copepods, small crustaceans, and small fish. [17] B. conifera has been observed eating a lanternfish. [15]
A species of manefish in the genus Caristius associates apparently mutualistically with B. conifera, using it for shelter, stealing meals, and perhaps nibbling on its host as well, yet protecting it from amphipod parasites like Themisto . [19]
Bryozoa are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869 living species are known. At least two genera are solitary ; the rest are colonial.
Cnidaria, is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, including jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones, corals and some of the smallest marine parasites. Their distinguishing features are a decentralized nervous system distributed throughout a gelatinous body and the presence of cnidocytes or cnidoblasts, specialized cells with ejectable flagella used mainly for envenomation and capturing prey. Their bodies consist of mesoglea, a non-living, jelly-like substance, sandwiched between two layers of epithelium that are mostly one cell thick. Cnidarians are also some of the only animals that can reproduce both sexually and asexually.
The Portuguese man o' war, also known as the man-of-war or bluebottle, is a marine hydrozoan found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. It is considered to be the same species as the Pacific man o' war or bluebottle, which is found mainly in the Pacific Ocean. The Portuguese man o' war is the only species in the genus Physalia, which in turn is the only genus in the family Physaliidae.
Hydrozoa is a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most of which inhabit saline water. The colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specialized individual animals cannot survive outside the colony. A few genera within this class live in freshwater habitats. Hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals and belong to the phylum Cnidaria.
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work mainly like muscular hydrostats. Most forms of tentacles are used for grasping and feeding. Many are sensory organs, variously receptive to touch, vision, or to the smell or taste of particular foods or threats. Examples of such tentacles are the eyestalks of various kinds of snails. Some kinds of tentacles have both sensory and manipulatory functions.
Siphonophorae is an order within Hydrozoa, which is a class of marine organisms within the phylum Cnidaria. According to the World Register of Marine Species, the order contains 175 species described thus far.
Physalia is a genus of the order Siphonophorae, colonies of four specialized polyps and medusoids that drift on the surface of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Although these organisms look like a single multicellular organism, each specimen is actually a colony of minute organisms called zooids that have to work together for survival. A gas-filled bladder resembling a blue bottle provides buoyancy, and long tentacles of venomous cnidocytes provide a means of capturing prey. A sail on the float, which may be left or right-handed, propels Physalia about the sea, often in groups. These siphonophores sometimes become stranded on beaches, where their toxic nematocysts can remain potent for weeks or months in moist conditions. Both species of this siphonophore resemble a jellyfish in appearance, with their gas-filled float and cluster of polyps beneath, which can hang up to 30 or 165 ft below the surface of the sea.
Coelenterata is a term encompassing the animal phyla Cnidaria and Ctenophora. The name comes from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos) 'hollow', and ἔντερον (énteron) 'intestine', referring to the hollow body cavity common to these two phyla. They have very simple tissue organization, with only two layers of cells, and radial symmetry. Some examples are corals, which are typically colonial, and hydrae, jellyfish, and sea anemones, which are solitary. Coelenterata lack a specialized circulatory system relying instead on diffusion across the tissue layers.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism, a parodic new religious movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion. It originated in opposition to the teaching of intelligent design in public schools in the United States. According to adherents, Pastafarianism is a "real, legitimate religion, as much as any other". It has received some limited recognition as such.
Praya dubia, the giant siphonophore, lives in the deep sea at 700 m (2,300 ft) to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) below sea level. It has been found off the coasts around the world, from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Chile in the South Pacific.
Marrus orthocanna species of pelagic siphonophore, a colonial animal composed of a complex arrangement of zooids, some of which are polyps and some medusae. Swimming independently in the mid-ocean, it lives in the Arctic and other cold, deep waters. It is a colonial creature that is born from a single egg which is fertilized. Later on, a protozoan forms that eventually grows to form more duplicating members of the colony. It belongs to the order Siphonophorae and the genus Marrus, which also includes M. antarcticus, M. claudanielis, and M. orthocannoides.
Caristius is a genus of manefishes native to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Apolemia is a genus of siphonophores. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Apolemiidae.
Porpita prunella is a marine species of hydrozoan organisms within the family Porpitidae. It consists of colonies of zooids. Very little is known about this species, as there have been no confirmed sightings since its discovery in 1801 and naming by Haeckel in 1888. Being in the chondrophore group, it is likely that its behaviour is similar to the other species of the genera in the family. However there are also serious doubts as to its very existence as a separate species and may in fact be a synonym for Porpita porpita instead.
Cystonectae is a suborder of siphonophores. It includes the Portuguese man o' war and Bathyphysa conifera.
Rhizophysidae is a family of siphonophores in the suborder Cystonectae. It includes Bathyphysa conifera, sometimes called the "flying spaghetti monster".
Physonectae is a suborder of siphonophores. In Japanese it is called 胞泳.
Calycophorae is a suborder of Siphonophores alongside two other suborders Physonectae and Cystonectae. This suborder includes the giant siphonophore, ; one of the longest lengthwise extant creatures (40–50m). While the Physonectae have a pneumatophore, nectophore, and a siphosome, Cystonectae lack a nectophore, and Calycophorae lack a pneumatophore. From the bell-shaped nectophores, Physonectae and Calycophorae are called Codonophores or Greek for bell-bearers. The distribution, morphology, and behaviors of Calycophorae species are vast and greatly depend on the species. Calycophoraes typically consist of two nectophores with a siphosome that have many tentacles that grow out of the siphosome. The Calycophoraes move by propelling water out of the nectophore much like how jellyfishes move. The tentacles act as fishing nets where the nematocysts on the tentacles paralyze their prey which are then later fed on. Calycophorae have three life stages, which are the larval development stage, the polygastric stage, and the eudoxid maturation stage. Each Calycophorae colony forms from one fertilized egg.
Lensia is a genus of hydrozoans belonging to the order Siphonoporae and the family Diphyidae. This genus is colonial and consists of many different types of highly specialized zooids. The genus Lensia was first established in 1932 by Dr. Arthur Knyvett Totton, who would also describe and add another 11 species during his career. As of March 2023, the genus consists of only 26 described and accepted species and an additional seven uncertain species, according to the World Register of Marine Species.
Tima nigroannulata, commonly known as the elegant jellyfish, is a recently discovered colonial hydrozoa found on the Pacific coast of Japan.
マガタマニラ まがたまにら / 勾玉韮 [学]Bathyphysa grimaldi
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
Order Cystonectae Family Physaliidae Family Rhizophysidae Bathyphysa conifera (Studer, 1878) A
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