| Beroe cucumis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Ctenophora |
| Class: | Nuda |
| Order: | Beroida |
| Family: | Beroidae |
| Genus: | Beroe |
| Species: | B. cucumis |
| Binomial name | |
| Beroe cucumis | |
Beroe cucumis is a species of comb jelly in the family Beroidae. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean. It was first described by the Danish missionary and naturalist Otto Fabricius in 1780. [2]
Beroe cucumis has a transparent, sac-like body, often somewhat compressed, and reaches a maximum length of about 15 cm (6 in). The wide mouth is at one end. The body has eight longitudinal rows of cilia that extend from the aboral end (opposite end to the mouth), three quarters of the way along the animal. The cilia are arranged on short transverse plates and beat in synchrony to propel the animal through the water, giving a shimmering effect. The general body colour is pink, especially along the rows of cilia, and the plates are bioluminescent. There is a figure of eight shaped ring of small papillae around the aboral tip. Gastrovascular channels extend from the stomach through the body wall beneath the rows of cilia, and these have short side branches, which distinguishes Beroe cucumis from the otherwise similar Beroe gracilis . Juveniles of the two species are indistinguishable. [2] [3]
Beroe cucumis is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, including the Skagerrak and the Kattegat. It sometimes occurs in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a pelagic, open water species and its depth range is not known. [2]
Beroe cucumis is a predator and mostly feeds on other comb jellies, particularly Bolinopsis infundibulum ; these are pulled into the large mouth and swallowed whole. [3]
The comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi is an invasive species originally native to the western Atlantic coastal waters that was introduced into the Black Sea in the 1980s, with deleterious results to the ecosystem. Since then it has spread to the Caspian Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. In the Black Sea, some measure of control was achieved when another predatory comb jelly, Beroe ovata , was introduced. [4]
Mnemiopsis leidyi was first recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in 1990 and in 2009, large swarms were present in some areas. Beroe cucumis is native to the northern Atlantic Ocean and sometimes occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is being monitored to see if it can provide some level of control of M. leidyi. In 2012, Beroe cucumis was found off the coast of Israel for the first time, and there is proof that it preys on M. leidyi, as an individual was found with a partially digested M. leidyi in its stomach. [4]
Cnidaria is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Ctenophora comprise a phylum of invertebrate animals that live in marine waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals to swim with the help of cilia. Depending on the species, adult ctenophores range from a few millimeters to 1.5 m in size. Only 100 to 150 species have been validated, and possibly another 25 have not been fully described and named. The textbook examples are cydippids with egg-shaped bodies and a pair of retractable tentacles fringed with tentilla that are covered with colloblasts, sticky cells that capture prey. Their bodies consist of a mass of jelly, with a layer two cells thick on the outside, and another lining the internal cavity. The phylum has a wide range of body forms, including the egg-shaped cydippids with retractable tentacles that capture prey, the flat generally combless platyctenids, and the large-mouthed beroids, which prey on other ctenophores.
Beroidae is a family of ctenophores or comb jellies more commonly referred to as the beroids. It is the only family within the monotypic order Beroida and the class Nuda. They are distinguished from other comb jellies by the complete absence of tentacles, in both juvenile and adult stages. Species of the family Beroidae are found in all the world's oceans and seas and are free-swimmers that form part of the plankton.
Lobata is an order of Ctenophora in the class Tentaculata with smaller tentacles than other ctenophores, and distinctive flattened lobes extending outwards from their bodies.
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, 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.
The European sprat, also known as bristling, brisling, garvie, garvock, Russian sardine, russlet, skipper or whitebait, is a species of small marine fish in the herring family Clupeidae. Found in European waters, it has silver grey scales and white-grey flesh. Specific seas in which the species occurs include the Irish Sea, Black Sea, Baltic Sea and Sea of the Hebrides. The fish is the subject of fisheries, particularly in Scandinavia, and is made into fish meal, as well as being used for human consumption. When used for food it can be canned, salted, breaded, fried, boiled, grilled, baked, deep fried, marinated, broiled, and smoked.
Mnemiopsis leidyi, the warty comb jelly or sea walnut, is a species of tentaculate ctenophore. It is native to western Atlantic coastal waters, but has become established as an invasive species in European and western Asian regions. Three species have been named in the genus Mnemiopsis, but they are now believed to be different ecological forms of a single species M. leidyi by most zoologists.
Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in its genus. It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, but other common names are purple-striped jelly, purple stinger, purple people eater, purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish. In Latin, pelagia means "of the sea", nocti stands for night and luca means light; thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate seas, although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, represent closely related but currently unrecognized species.
Cydippida is an order of comb jellies. They are distinguished from other comb jellies by their spherical or oval bodies, and the fact their tentacles are branched, and can be retracted into pouches on either side of the pharynx. The order is not monophyletic, that is, more than one common ancestor is believed to exist.
Pleurobrachia bachei is a member of the phylum Ctenophora and is commonly referred to as a sea gooseberry. These comb jellies are often mistaken for medusoid Cnidaria, but lack stinging cells.
Mertensia ovum, also known as the Arctic comb jelly or sea nut, is a cydippid comb jelly or ctenophore first described as Beroe ovum by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1780. Unusually among ctenophores, which normally prefer warmer waters, it is found in the Arctic and adjacent polar seas, mostly in surface waters down to 50 metres (160 ft).
Beroe, commonly known as the cigar comb jellies, is a genus of comb jellies in the family Beroidae.
Beroe ovata is a comb jelly in the family Beroidae. It is found in the South Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and has been introduced into the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. It was first described by the French physician and zoologist Jean Guillaume Bruguière in 1789.
Bolinopsis infundibulum, commonly known as the common northern comb jelly, is a species of comb jelly in the family Bolinopsidae. It is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and was first described by the Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776.
Pleurobrachia pileus is a species of comb jelly, commonly known as a sea gooseberry. It is found in open water in the northern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and was first described by the Danish zoologist Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776.
Parasagitta setosa is a small arrow worm in the family Sagittidae, previously referred to as Sagitta setosa. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and also occurs in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.
Edwardsiella lineata, the lined anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Edwardsiidae. It is native to the northwestern Atlantic Ocean where it occurs in the subtidal zone.
Coeloplana astericola, the creeping comb jelly, is a species of benthic comb jelly from the tropical western Indo-Pacific region that lives as an episymbiont on starfish such as Echinaster luzonicus.
The dispersal of invasive species by ballast water refers to the unintentional introduction of invasive species to new habitats via the ballast water carried by commercial shipping vessels. Ballast water spreads an estimated 7000 living species to new habitats across the globe. These species can affect the ecological balance of their new regions by outcompeting native species or otherwise impacting native ecosystems.
Beroe abyssicola is a beroid ctenophore, or comb jelly, in the genus Beroe. It is largely found in deep waters in the North Pacific Ocean, and is common in Japan and the Arctic Ocean. A predator, Beroe feeds mostly on other ctenophores by swallowing them whole. Like other ctenophores, B. abyssicola has a simple nervous system in the form of a nerve net, which it uses to direct its movement, feeding, and hunting behaviors.