Pelagia noctiluca | |
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Mediterranean individuals from Sardinia (above) and Corsica (below) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Cnidaria |
Class: | Scyphozoa |
Order: | Semaeostomeae |
Family: | Pelagiidae |
Genus: | Pelagia Péron & Lesueur, 1810 |
Species: | P. noctiluca |
Binomial name | |
Pelagia noctiluca | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia. [1] It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, [3] [4] but other common names are purple-striped jelly (causing potential confusion with Chrysaora colorata ), [5] purple stinger, purple people eater, [6] purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish. [7] In Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea"; [8] in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night"", and lux, "light"; [9] 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, [3] [4] although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, [10] represent closely related but currently unrecognized species. [11]
A fairly small and variably coloured species, both its tentacles and (unusual among jellyfish) bell are covered in stinging cells. [3] [12] Stinging incidents are common, painful and the symptoms may continue for a considerable time after the encounter, but they are generally not dangerous. [3] When large numbers of this oceanic species are washed ashore, the local economy can be affected because tourists avoid the beaches and fishers are stung while trying to retrieve their nets, which can be clogged by the jellyfish. [3] [10] Additionally, swarms of Pelagia noctiluca have been recorded wiping out entire fish farms. [13] [14] Because of this, it has become one of the most studied jellyfish species. [15]
This jellyfish is best known from the North Atlantic region, ranging from 4th parallel north (just north of Equator) to the North Sea and Atlantic Canada, including the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico. [10] [16]
There are reports from most other tropical or warm temperate seas around the world, including both the Pacific and Indian Oceans, with its apparent southern limit being 42nd parallel south. [3] [4] Some of the locations are California (rare), [17] Hawaii (rare), [4] northern New Zealand [18] and all around Australia (common). [12] However, it is suspected that Pelagia noctiluca—as currently defined—is a species complex with records outside the North Atlantic region involving other closely related species that presently are unrecognized or undescribed. [11] Even North Atlantic and South Atlantic populations show significant genetic differences. [19] A comprehensive taxonomic review is necessary to resolve the situation. [20] In 2014, a second species in the genus Pelagia was described from the Mediterranean, but two years later it was moved to its own genus as Mawia benovici . [21]
The swimming ability of Pelagia noctiluca is limited and as a result large swarms (also known as blooms) of this oceanic species are occasionally carried by the wind or current to inshore areas, sometimes ending up stranded on beaches. [3] [10] This also means that the species sometimes appears in waters outside its normal temperature preference, with records as far north as the Shetland Islands and the Norwegian deep. [3] It generally occurs at water temperatures between 10 and 27 °C (50–81 °F), but below 11 °C (52 °F) it stops pulsating. [4] It mostly ranges from the surface to a depth of 150 m (490 ft), but has been recorded to 1,400 m (4,600 ft). [3] Pelagia noctiluca partakes in the diel vertical migration, occurring near the surface at night and deeper during the day. [22]
Local populations fluctuate greatly and the species may go virtually unrecorded in a region for years, only to suddenly reappear in huge swarms. [10] [23] [24] On occasion, a swarm may cover tens of square kilometers, [25] include millions of Pelagia noctiluca, [26] and reach densities of more than 500 individuals per m3 (14 per ft3). [22]
This section includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(July 2019) |
Pelagia noctiluca are fairly small jellyfish with adults having a bell diameter of 3–12 cm (1.2–4.7 in). [3] Their colour is variable, ranging from mauve, purple, pink, light brown to yellow. [3] [17] The body is radially symmetrical. There is only one body cavity known as the gastrovascular cavity. This is a primitive gut or digestive cavity with only one opening that is used for ingestion and excretion; there are four long oral arms with crenulated margins that are the primary feeding surface. Each P. noctiluca medusa has eight long tentacles that emerge from the umbrella margin. Being radially symmetrical it has no head and thus no centralized nervous system. The nervous system present is primitive, consisting of a simple net composed of naked and largely non-polar neurons. In addition P. noctiluca also lacks a gaseous exchange, excretory and circulatory system. However cnidaria have evolved cnidae, cells which serve for a variety of functions that include prey capture, defense, locomotion and attachment. When fully formed cnidae are called cnidocytes. When stimulated the cnidae secrete nematocyst toxins that are biological poisons.
These organisms have a well-developed manubrium, a proboscis-like structure bearing the mouth and four long oral arms. Also the mesoglea, or jelly, is relatively thickened and well developed in this species. Sense organs, known as rhopalia in the scyphomedusae, are located around the umbrella margin in notches and alternate between tentacles. Cnidae are present in the epidermis and gastrodermis of the umbrella, as well as on the tentacles.
Pelagia noctiluca has eight marginal tentacles alternating with eight marginal sense organs. Four gonads arise as elongated endodermal proliferations, developing into ribbon-like folds in the interradial sectors of the stomach wall slightly distal to the rows of gastric filaments. Male and female gonads vary only slightly and the main difference is the thickness of the follicle.
Pelagia noctiluca are bioluminescent, i.e. have an ability to produce a low light that is visible to humans during the night. Light is emitted in the form of flashes when the medusa is stimulated by turbulence created by waves or by a ship's motion. This flashing is only of relatively short duration and gradually fades. A very early description of bioluminescence was provided by Pliny the Elder in Historia Naturalis (77 AD), using the name "pulmo marinus", and now considered to refer to P. noctiluca. [27] [28]
Pelagia noctiluca is adapted to a pelagic, open-sea mode of life. Whereas most jellyfish, including the other species in the family Pelagiidae, have a life cycle with both the free-swimming stages (planula, ephyra and medusa) and a bottom-living polyp stage, P. noctiluca has adapted in such a way that the polyp stage is absent. [29] P. noctiluca reproduces sexually with the male and female spawning respectively sperm and eggs into the sea during daylight hours. After 3 days, the fertilized egg develops into a planula; at this stage movement is only done by ciliary action. After a week, planulae develop into tiny ephyrae and a month later they develop into (male or female) medusae. [4] There is little or no ephyra growth at temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F), [23] and fewer survive below 8 °C (46 °F). [30] The bottom-living polyp stage of most other jellyfish species is in between the planula and ephyra stages. [29] Initially, the medusa of P. noctiluca only has a bell diameter of about 1 cm (0.4 in). Some already reach maturity at 3.5 cm (1.4 in) in bell diameter and at 6 cm (2.4 in) all are mature. [23] In the Mediterranean Sea, P. noctiluca appear to mostly spawn between the late summer and early winter, but also at lower levels in the spring to early summer. [10] [23] P. noctiluca rely on favorable trophic conditions to spawn, so when their criteria is not met, the medusae will stop reproducing immediately and lose weight when presented with an inadequate amount of food. [31] Large swarms of adults at the ocean surface in certain times of the year possibly are spawning aggregations. [10] This jellyfish typically lives for about 9 months. [23]
Pelagia noctiluca are opportunistic and have been recorded feeding on a wide range of small organisms like planktonic crustaceans (cladocerans, copepods, ostracods and crustacean larvae), mollusk larvae, larvaceans, hydromedusae, siphonophorans, arrow worms, fish eggs and fish larvae, [4] [10] [22] as well as detritus suspended in the open water and microscopic phytoplankton. [32] The phytoplankton can be consumed either directly or indirectly by eating herbivorous crustaceans with stomachs filled with it. The ability to eat phytoplankton is—as far as known—highly unusual among cnidarians. [32] P. noctiluca will eat small warty comb jellies (Mnemiopsis leidyi), potentially helping to control this invasive species. [33] Cannibalism where adults consume young of their own species is also common in P. noctiluca. [22] The stomach contents of P. noctiluca also vary throughout the seasons. Copepods tend to be their largest food source all year round, but fish eggs and pteropods are a close second. During the spring months, P. noctiluca mainly prey on copepods and fish eggs, while pteropods are preyed on more during December and May. The variability in this species' diet suggests that they are generalists, and do not have strong prey selectivity. [34]
Feeding reactions were studied by Bozler (1926), where a piece of food was given to the marginal tentacle, the tentacle contracted quickly. There was a slow contraction of the coronal muscle which brought the tentacle nearer to the mouth. The food was grasped by the lip of one of the oral arm and transported slowly along until it reached the stomach. They were found to feed on the salp Thalia democratica ; however, they are found mainly to feed by taking food particle by the amoeboid process of the endoderm cells, thus being suspension feeders.[ citation needed ]
Pelagia noctiluca is considered the most important stinging jellyfish in the Mediterranean Sea. [3] [10] Both its tentacles and—unusual among jellyfish—the bell are covered in cnidocytes (stinging cells), and even recently dead, stranded individuals can sting. [3] P. noctiluca contains four different types of nematocysts, but two are important for stinging, O-isorhiza and eurytele. [35] The sting causes pain that typically lasts 1–2 weeks, local redness, swelling and a rash, but it is generally not dangerous and there are no known fatalities. [3] [36] On occasion, symptoms may be more general and include dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea. Sudden recurrent skin eruptions may occur years later. Rarely, the sting can cause a serious allergic reaction and leave scars or hyperpigmented marks on the skin that can remain for years after the encounter. [3] If stung by P. noctiluca there can be cross-reactivity (an allergic reaction) if later stung by Portuguese man o' war (Physalia physalis) or sea nettles (Chrysaora). [3] [36] There is one known case where a sting by P. noctiluca caused Guillain–Barré syndrome, but all symptoms disappeared within 6 months. [37] Peculiarly, there is a record of a seven-arm octopus "borrowing" the stinging capability of a P. noctiluca. The open-sea octopus grabbed and positioned the jellyfish in such a way that it provided a defense. [38] The sting of P. noctiluca can possibly be relieved with the use of Hydroxyacetophenone and Symsitive® since they are nematocyst inhibitor compounds, meaning they inhibit the discharge of cnidocysts. [35]
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.
Box jellyfish are cnidarian invertebrates distinguished by their box-like body. Some species of box jellyfish produce potent venom delivered by contact with their tentacles. Stings from some species, including Chironex fleckeri, Carukia barnesi, Malo kingi, and a few others, are extremely painful and often fatal to humans.
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.
Phacellophora, commonly known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish in the monotypic family Phacellophoridae containing a single species Phacellophora camtschatica. This genus can be easily identified by the yellow coloration in the center of its body which closely resembles an egg yolk, hence 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.
Carybdea is a genus of venomous box jellyfish within the family Carybdeidae that currently consists of a total of 8 species. This genus of jellyfish are often found in warm waters around the world in waters such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and off the coast of Africa. Their sting can cause a range of effects depending on the species. These invertebrates will go through both sexual and asexual reproduction as they transform from a polyp to medusa. Carybdea have a box-shaped bell with four tentacles and eye-like sensory structures. There are distinct physical markings that differentiate many species within the genus. While Carybdea use their venom to act as predators, they are also preyed on by turtles and various fish. They feed on plankton, invertebrates, fish, and some crustaceans.
Saint Pelagia, Pelagia of Antioch, Pelagia the Penitent or Pelagia the Harlot was a legendary Christian saint and hermit in the 4th or 5th century.
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".
Malo kingi or the common kingslayer is a species of Irukandji jellyfish. It was first described to science in 2007, and is one of four species in the genus Malo. It has one of the world's most potent venoms, even though it is no bigger than a human thumbnail. As an Irukandji, it can cause Irukandji syndrome, characterized by severe pain, vomiting, and rapid rise in blood pressure.
Jellyfish dermatitis is a cutaneous condition caused by stings from a jellyfish.
Catostylus mosaicus is also known as the jelly blubber or blue blubber jellyfish. The jelly blubber is distinguishable by its color, which ranges from light blue to a dark blue or purple, and its large (250-300mm), rounded bell which pulses in a staccato rhythm. It occurs along the coastline of Eastern Australia in estuaries and shallow bays, and often blooms to high abundance.
Lipkea is a genus of stalked jellyfish. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Lipkeidae. Lipkea species lack tentacles at the end of their bell.
Mawia is a genus of jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae. It is a monotypic genus with the sole species Mawia benovici. The team who discovered this jellyfish named it benovici after a late colleague, Adam Benovic. Originally belonging to the genus Pelagia, it was later moved into its own genus, which was named after the Arab warrior-queen Mavia. Although described based on specimens from the Adriatic Sea, a part of the Mediterranean, it was speculated that these might be transplants rather than a part of its natural range. A later study found specimens in Senegal, indicating that its natural range possibly is the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa.
Carybdea marsupialis is a venomous species of box jellyfish, in the small family Carybdeidae within the class Cubozoa.
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.
Rhopilema verrilli, the 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.
Cephea cephea, also known as the crown jellyfish, or cauliflower jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish in the family Cepheidae. It occurs in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific to Northern Australia. The species was first described by Peter Forsskål in 1775 and originally given the name Medusa cephea. It inhabits the pelagic zone of tropical and sub-tropical waters and is most commonly found in the Indo-West Pacific, eastern Atlantic and the Red Sea. Although this species is among the most venomous jellyfish, it is not harmful to humans and is eaten as a delicacy and used for medical purposes in China and Japan. The species can achieve a diameter of up to 60 cm.
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.
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