| Cyanea annaskala | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Scyphozoa |
| Order: | Semaeostomeae |
| Family: | Cyaneidae |
| Genus: | Cyanea |
| Species: | C. annaskala |
| Binomial name | |
| Cyanea annaskala von Lendenfeld, 1884 | |
Cyanea annaskala is a species of jellyfish that was discovered in 1882 by Robert Lendlmayer von Lendenfeld.
Cyanea annaskala is in the scyphozoan class of the phylum Cnidaria. The scyphozoans are the true jellies. It is within the order Semaeostomeae. The Semaeostomeae are the flag mouth jellies. It is within the family Cyaneidae, which contain the better known species of the lion's mane jellyfish. [1]
The phylogeny of the Lion's mane jellyfish has long been debated since their discovery, and the Cyanea annaskala has long been implicated in this difficulty. The high proportion of cosmopolitan species in pelagic individuals makes it extremely tedious to differentiate between closely related members. [2] Because of limited study and challenging experimentation, not all of the Cyanea species from the North Atlantic are considered valid. [3]
Protein and medusae analysis from Michael N. Dawson of the University of New South Wales confirm that Cyanea annaskala is a valid species, morphologically distinct based on differences in bell mass, number of nematocyst clusters, pits in coronal muscle folds, and other morphological characteristics. Some of the other morphological characteristics that have been compared include the number of coronal and radial muscle folds, and the depth of primary and secondary marginal clefts. The distinguishing of C. annaskala from C. capillata and C. rosea is justified as robust based on these criteria. [4] There are two subspecies which include C. annaskala purpurea and C. annaskala margarina. These are located in Port Philips and Port Jackson respectively.C. a. purpurea is purple completerly whereas C. a. margarina is only purple at the margin. [5]
The bell of the Cyanea annaskala has 8 lobes, all of which have a central cleft. A distinguishing characteristic is the purple coloration of the arms that runs length wise throughout. The bell width is usually between 25 cm and 1 m [6] Their oral arms usually have a base that is not thickened, between 17-24 shallow coronal muscle folds, and no pits in their muscle folds [4]
Cyanea annaskala are endemic to the waters of South Eastern Australia, spanning depths from shallow waters close to the shore to 20 m below the surface. They are in particularly high concentration in Port Philip Bay in Victoria and Port Jackson in Sydney, New South Wales.
They are carnivorous and eat small fish and crustaceans. They will often dive downwards to fan out their tentacles to increase surface area and consequently their chances of catching prey. [7] Being cnidarians, they do possess distinctive harpoon-like injection stinging cells, [8] and like many scyphozoans their populations get out of control. They will occasionally wash ashore and cause minor stings to beachgoers. [9]
During the summer of 1950 and 1961, 4 young men were stung in the eyes while swimming in Port Phillip Bay during a C. annaskala infestation. They experienced severe pain, swelling, and temporary visual deterioration. [10] They also experienced photophobia and blepharospasm. Corneal epithelium suffered abrasions and stroma were punctured. [11] There was also an infestation during the 1997-1998 summer and swimmers were warned to stay out of the waters by the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority after hundreds of reported stingings! [10] These blooms can be quite destructive to the trophic structure of the surrounding environment. [7]
The gonads of the C. annaskala have been described as folded into a ribbon in a genital band. The stretched out gonadial ribbon reached 300 mm. Epithelial cavities will make chambers which fuse to become a genital sinus. Spermatozoa are formed in follicles which stay connected to the genital sinus, providing a conduit for the spermatozoa to travel. [12] The fertilized egg becomes a polyp which is produced through the process of budding (strobilation). The polyp like stage (known as a scyphistoma) of development starts out as a coronate scyphistoma. It then becomes a semaeostome, followed by a rhizostome scyphistoma. [13]
Many efforts to understand the potent toxicity of the Cyanea sting have spanned the realm of biochemical technique. Researchers have elucidated that tentacle extract, essentially essence of tentacle exhibits hemolytic and cardiovascular toxicity simultaneously. [14] Research also shows that pouring saltwater into stings significantly increases flow of venom into body. [15]
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.
Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies, are the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria.
The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish.
A cnidocyte is an explosive cell containing one large secretory organelle called a cnidocyst that can deliver a sting to other organisms. The presence of this cell defines the phylum Cnidaria. Cnidae are used to capture prey and as a defense against predators. A cnidocyte fires a structure that contains a toxin within the cnidocyst; this is responsible for the stings delivered by a cnidarian. Cnidocytes are single-use cells that need to be continuously replaced.
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.
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 1865 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.
Medusozoa is a clade in the phylum Cnidaria, and is often considered a subphylum. It includes the classes Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Staurozoa and Cubozoa, and possibly the parasitic Polypodiozoa. Medusozoans are distinguished by having a medusa stage in their often complex life cycle, a medusa typically being an umbrella-shaped body with stinging tentacles around the edge. With the exception of some Hydrozoa, all are called jellyfish in their free-swimming medusa phase.
The Cyaneidae are a family of true jellyfish. About 20 species are in this family, including the well-known lion's-mane jellyfish.
Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia. 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 Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea"; in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night"", and lux, "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.
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.
Chrysaora hysoscella, the compass jellyfish, is a common species of jellyfish that inhabits coastal waters in temperate regions of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, including the North Sea and Mediterranean Sea. In the past it was also recorded in the southeastern Atlantic, including South Africa, but this was caused by confusion with close relatives; C. africana, C. fulgida and an undescribed species tentatively referred to as "C. agulhensis".
Carukia barnesi is an extremely venomous jellyfish found near Australia. Stings can result in Irukandji syndrome, and this species is commonly known as Irukandji jellyfish, although this name does not distinguish it from other Irukandji jellyfish such as Malo kingi.
Cyanea lamarckii, also known as the blue jellyfish or bluefire jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Cyaneidae.
Cyanea is a genus of jellyfish, primarily found in northern waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and southern Pacific waters of Australia and New Zealand, there are also several boreal, polar, tropical and sub-tropical species. Commonly found in and associated with rivers and fjords. The same genus name has been given to a genus of plants of the Hawaiian lobelioids, an example of a parahomonym.
The thimble jellyfish is a species of cnidarian found in the warm West Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean. It is a tiny jellyfish with a straight-sided, flat-topped bell. This jellyfish is the most common cause of seabather's eruption, a reaction caused by the injection of juvenile jellyfish nematocysts into human skin.
Turritopsis rubra, commonly referred to as the Crimson Jelly, is a hydrozoan within the family Oceaniidae. The species is native to New Zealand and southern Australia, typically appearing near shorelines in the summer months. The species follows a distribution pattern across the southern Pacific Ocean and can frequently be found in shallow coastal waters.
Cyanea versicolor, also known as the dwarf lion's mane jellyfish is a species of jellyfish in the family Cyaneidae.
Desmonema is a genus of jellyfish under the Cyaneidae family found in colder waters near the Antarctic region and off of the coast of Argentina. They have a bell diameter that can extend over 1 meter and wide tentacles that are grouped together in clusters. They share similar anatomical and physiological structures to the genus Cyanea. Their sophisticated structures like the thick tentacles, sensory systems, and gastrovascular system allow Desmonema to easily capture and extracellularly digest their prey. In recent years, Desmonema were reported to have a commensal relationship with fishes under the Trachurus genus and a parasitic relationship with specimens of the Hyperia genus. The genus name derives from the Ancient Greek desmós (δεσμός), meaning "bond", and nêma (νῆμᾰ), meaning "thread".
Cyanea fulva, the Atlantic lion's mane jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish found along the Mid-Atlantic coastal region of the United States. C. fulva are commonly noted as being about two inches in diameter and smaller than C. capillata, however, larger than C. versicolor, a co-occurring close species. One distinctive feature present in mature C. fulva populations is their four mouth-part tentacles, containing a cinnamon color with the center of the main cavity being darker. At a young age, these jellyfish can have three appendages but often gain a fourth at more developed life cycle stages. C. fulva are also known for having less folds compared to C. arctica but more folds compared to C. versicolor. These folds are described as being remarkably thin and deciduous.