| Lobonema | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Scyphozoa |
| Order: | Rhizostomeae |
| Family: | Lobonematidae |
| Genus: | Lobonema Mayer, 1910 |
| Species: | L. smithii |
| Binomial name | |
| Lobonema smithii Mayer, 1910 | |
Lobonema is a monotypic genus of cnidarians belonging to the family Lobonematidae. The only species is Lobonema smithii.
Lobonema smithii, commonly known as white jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish that often appears with a white or translucent color that spans across its whole body. It has a wide body, with its exumbrella being rough and rigid, which gives it a prominent umbrella shape. Additionally, the exumbrella is large, and notably gelatinous, which is one of this species most distinct characteristics. [1]
The order which Lobonema smithii is categorized under, Rhizostomeae, has many defining features that Lobonema smithii carries. Some of these are thin, oral arms that become infused the closer they are to the centerpiece of the jellyfish. With Lobonema smithii, these arms are very thin and abundant, almost resembling hair-like properties.
23.6 cm wide, thick, tough, and rigid, and an erect exumbrella. This species has a notable gelatinous papillae, which is 3.5 to 4 cm long, pointed, nematocyst. This species has four velar lappets in each of its octants that are 9 to 10 cm long tapering, pointy and mouth arms which are 15 cm long. There are also distal three-winged portions that are one to one and a half as long as the proximal portion of the organism. Additionally, this species has long spindle appendages, with 16 radial canals attached to it. [1]
The species is found in Malesia. Lobonema smithi is mostly contained in the Manila Bay region.
This organism has mainly only been spotted in the Indo-Pacific west.
The depth this organism tends to be found in is the Pelagic zone, and does not seem to venture far out of that region. Additionally, this species mainly stays in tropical waters.
Lobonema smithii have only been found to be male or female, with males being the more prominently discovered and studied in abundance compared to females.
This species follows the traditional Scyphozoan life cycle. Due to Lobonema smithii being gonochoric, The first step is an egg being laid by an adult in the medusa stage, which then is fertilized and becomes a planula. This larva undergoes processes such as metamorphoses which leads it to grow into a scyphistoma. This scyphistoma becomes a strobila, then finally becomes a young medusa. [2]
Reproduction for this species has not been thoroughly studied or documented with how rarely spotted this species has become. It is possible that based on this species life cycle that the reproductive process is very similar to other jellyfish. [3]
With this, the first step to jellyfish reproduction is the male releasing sperm from its mouth into the water it occupies. The females swim through this water and the sperm enters her oral cavity to reach unprotected eggs. This leads to these eggs become fertilized and develop into larvae, which begins the life cycle of this species.
Following Scyphozoan morphology, this organism swims through waters by contracting and relaxing the muscles found at the edge of the bell structure that makes up its central body. [4]
The specific diet of this species has not been thoroughly studied. However, following the traditional Rhizostomaea diet, this species can feed on copepods, various fish larvae, and other small invertebrates [5]
Lobonema smithii is most notably noted for its gelatin production, as the main feature of this jellyfish is that it is edible. The lobonema is an integral part to the Thai fishery export due to this jellyfish being edible. Its characteristic high collagenous protein has made itself subject to multiple studies as a potential source of gelatin. [6] Lobonema's high nutritional value and pharmacological capabilities make it a popular treatment for health issues in China. [7]
A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral end is attached to the substrate by means of a disc-like holdfast called a pedal disc, while in colonies of polyps it is connected to other polyps, either directly or indirectly. The oral end contains the mouth, and is surrounded by a circlet of tentacles.
Jellyfish, also known 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.
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.
Stauromedusae are the stalked jellyfishes. They are the sole living members of the class Staurozoa and belong to the medusozoa subphylum of Cnidaria. They are unique among medusa jellyfish in that they do not have an alternation of polyp and medusa life cycle phases, but are instead interpreted as an attached medusa stage, with a lifestyle more resembling that of polypoid forms. They have a generally trumpet-shaped body, oriented upside-down in comparison with other jellyfish, with the tentacles projecting upwards, and the stalk located in the centre of the umbrella.
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.
Cotylorhiza tuberculata is a species of jellyfish of the phylum Cnidaria, also known as the Mediterranean jellyfish, Mediterranean jelly, or fried egg jellyfish. It is commonly found in the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and Adriatic Sea.
Cotylorhiza is a genus of true jellyfish from the family Cepheidae. The genus is found in the central-east Atlantic, Mediterranean, and western Indian Ocean.
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".
The Pacific sea nettle, or West Coast sea nettle, is a widespread planktonic scyphozoan cnidarian—or medusa, “jellyfish” or “jelly”—that lives in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, in temperate to cooler waters off of British Columbia and the West Coast of the United States, ranging south to México. The Pacific sea nettle earned its common name in-reference to its defensive, ‘nettle’-like sting; much like the stinging nettle plant, the sea nettle’s defensive sting is often irritating to humans, though rarely dangerous.
Aurelia is a genus of jellyfish that are commonly called moon jellies, which are in the class Scyphozoa. There are currently 25 accepted species and many that are still not formally described.
An oral arm is an anatomical structure of "true" sea jellies, which belong to the class Scyphozoa. Oral arms characterize Semaeostomeae, an order of large jellyfish.
Cassiopea andromeda is one of many cnidarian species called the upside-down jellyfish. It usually lives in intertidal sand or mudflats, shallow lagoons, and around mangroves. This jellyfish, often mistaken for a sea anemone, usually keeps its mouth facing upward. Its yellow-brown bell, which has white or pale streaks and spots, pulsates to run water through its arms for respiration and to gather food.
Drymonema is a genus of true jellyfish, placed in its own family, the Drymonematidae. There are three species: Drymonema dalmatinum, Drymonema gorgo, and Drymonema larsoni, which are found in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
The helmet jellyfish, sometimes called the merchant-cap, is a luminescent, red-colored jellyfish of the deep sea, belonging to the order Coronatae of the phylum Cnidaria. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Periphylla and is one of the rare examples in Scyphozoa which life-cycle lacks a polyp stage. This species is photophobic and inhabits deeper parts of the oceans to avoid light. It may be found at the surface on dark nights.
Rhopilema verrilli, or mushroom cap jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Rhizostomatidae. They are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their mushroom-shaped medusae. The species does not have any tentacles; however, they still have stinging cells, called nematocysts, within their bells, which can produce mild stings to humans.
Sanderia malayensis is a species of jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae, native to the tropical Indo-Pacific. It has a complex life cycle and is thought to be venomous and to have caused injuries to humans.
The South American sea nettle is a species of jellyfish from the family Pelagiidae. It is found from the Pacific coast of Peru, south along Chile's coast to Tierra del Fuego, and north along the Atlantic coast of Argentina, with a few records from Uruguay. Despite its common name, it is not the only sea nettle in South America. For example, C. lactea is another type of sea nettle in this region. Historically, C. plocamia was often confused with C. hysoscella, a species now known to be restricted to the northeast Atlantic. C. plocamia is a large jellyfish, up to 1 m in bell diameter, although most mature individuals only are 25–40 cm (10–16 in).
Versuriga is a monotypic genus of jellyfishes belonging to the monotypic family Versurigidae. The only species is Versuriga anadyomene. This species is rare, only having been sighted in a limited region. However, it can be identified by its gradient-like coloration, as well as its umbrella shaped bell, which is common amongst other members of the class Scyphozoa. This species is important for many reasons, ranging from ecological interactions to socioeconomic benefits. Notably, Versuriga is able to form commensalistic relationships with other organisms, impacting biodiversity, as well as being a food source for humans and other predators.