Trachymedusae

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Trachymedusae
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Crossota sp.
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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Hydrozoa
Subclass: Trachylinae
Order: Trachymedusae
Haeckel, 1866 (1879)
Families

Trachymedusae belong to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa, among the 30 genera are 5 families containing around 50 species in all, the family Rhopalonematidae has the greatest diversity. [1]

Contents

Description

Trachymedusae are identifiable by their umbrella edge which lacks any lobes. The tentacles at the edge of the umbrellas are solid or solid and hollow, there is a thickened tissue ring that has a large number of nematocysts, the radial canals number from 4 to 6 to 8 and more than 8, though 8 is the most common amount found. The sensory clubs can be open or closed with the endodermal axis. The gonads are generally located at the radial canal or where the radial canal and the manubrium connect. The cnidome may have stenoteles. Trachymedusae reproduce sexually during the medusae stage lacking a polyp stage. [1] [2]

Primarily found in the deep ocean, where they are recorded at depths of seventy to two thousand metres. [3] [4]

Interactions with humans

Interactions with humans are few as this species primarily occurs at great depth. Although it has been found that hydrozoans have increased in numbers in recent years, the increase in Liriope tetraphylla , a species of Trachymedusae, does not appear to be affecting the total zoo-plankton populations they prey upon within the Sea of Marmara. [5]

Related Research Articles

Cnidaria Aquatic animal phylum having cnydocytes

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.

Jellyfish Soft-bodied, aquatic invertebrates

Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being mobile. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion for highly efficient locomotion. The tentacles are armed with stinging cells and may be used to capture prey and defend against predators. Jellyfish have a complex life cycle; the medusa is normally the sexual phase, which produces planula larva that disperse widely and enter a sedentary polyp phase before reaching sexual maturity.

Scyphozoa Class of marine cnidarians, true jellyfish

The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish. It may include the extinct fossil group the Conulariida, whose affinities are uncertain and widely debated.

<i>Aurelia aurita</i> Species of jellyfish

Aurelia aurita is a widely studied species of the genus Aurelia. All species in the genus are very similar, and it is difficult to identify Aurelia medusae without genetic sampling; most of what follows applies equally to all species of the genus. The most common method used to identify the species consists of selecting a jellyfish from a harbour using a device, usually a drinking glass and then photographing the subject. This means that they can be released in to the harbour shortly afterwards and return to their natural habitat.

Hydrozoa class of cnidarians

Hydrozoa are a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most living in salt 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 fresh water. Hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals and belong to the phylum Cnidaria.

<i>Obelia</i> Genus of hydrozoans

Obelia is a genus of hydrozoans, a class of mainly marine and some freshwater animal species that have both polyp and medusa stages in their life cycle. Hydrozoa belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, which are aquatic organisms that are relatively simple in structure.

<i>Velella</i> Species of cnidarian

Velella is a monospecific genus of hydrozoa in the Porpitidae family. Its only known species is Velella velella, a cosmopolitan free-floating hydrozoan that lives on the surface of the open ocean. It is commonly known by the names sea raft, by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella.

Medusozoa Clade of marine invertebrates

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.

<i>Phacellophora camtschatica</i> Species of jellyfish

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.

<i>Turritopsis dohrnii</i> Species of small, biologically immortal jellyfish

Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the immortal jellyfish, is a species of small, biologically immortal jellyfish found worldwide in temperate to tropic waters. It is one of the few known cases of animals capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary individual. Others include the jellyfish Laodicea undulata and species of the genus Aurelia.

<i>Alatina alata</i> Species of jellyfish

Alatina alata(Reynaud, 1830), often called a sea wasp, is a species of box jellyfish found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and in the Caribbean and Arabian Sea.

<i>Chrysaora hysoscella</i> Species of 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".

Leptothecata Order of cnidarians with hydrothecae

Leptothecata, or thecate hydroids, are an order of hydrozoans in the phylum Cnidaria. Their closest living relatives are the athecate hydroids which are similar enough to have always been considered closely related, and the very apomorphic Siphonophora which were placed outside the "Hydroida". Given that there are no firm rules for synonymy for high-ranked taxa, alternative names like Leptomedusa, Thecaphora or Thecata, with or without the ending emended to "-ae", are also often used for Leptothecata.

Crossota millsae is a species of deep-sea hydrozoan. These small ocean-dwelling creatures are bioluminescent; the light emitted by these jellyfish serves as a defense or warning to other creatures. Males and females have both been described, and it reproduces sexually. They are viviparous and females brood baby medusae attached to the gastric canals inside the sub-umbrellar space.

<i>Benthocodon</i> Genus of hydrozoans

Benthocodon is a genus of hydrozoans of the family Rhopalonematidae. The genus contains two known species: Benthocodon hyalinus and Benthocodon pedunculatus, however due to the small size and red pigmentation, they can easily be confused with related genera. Unlike many hydromedusae, these jellyfish do not have a sessile stage. Rather, they spend their entire lives in the water column as plankton. The genus Benthocodon can be found near the sea floor in the Pacific Ocean from Antarctica to California to the Arctic Ocean.

<i>Marrus orthocanna</i> Species of hydrozoan

Marrus orthocanna is a species of pelagic siphonophore, a colonial animal composed of a complex arrangement of zooids, some of which are polyps and some medusae. It lives in the Arctic and other cold, deep waters, swimming independently in mid-ocean. It is a colonial creature that is born from a single egg which is fertilized. Later on, a protozoan form that eventually grows to form more duplicating members of the colony.

Olindiidae Family of hydrozoans

Olindiidae is a family of hydrozoans in the order Limnomedusae. They have a polyp phase and a medusa phase. The polyps are generally small (1 mm) and solitary, but a few species are colonial. They have a varying number of tentacles and can reproduce by budding. In the largest species, the medusae can grow to 15 cm (6 in). Centripetal canals may be present or absent and the radial canals are unbranched. The gonads are beside the radial canals, except in Limnocnida, where they are on the manubrium. The fertilised eggs develop into planula larvae which become polyps. These multiply asexually or can bud off medusae. In some species, medusae are only produced when the water temperature exceeds a certain level. Most species are marine, but several can also be found in brackish water and a few, notably Craspedacusta and Limnocnida, are found in fresh water.

Bougainvillia aberrans is a marine invertebrate, a species of hydroid in the suborder Anthomedusae. It was first described by Dale Calder in 1993. They have four radical clusters of marginal tentacles. Bougainvillia aberrans is found in Bermuda in the western North Atlantic Ocean.

<i>Turritopsis nutricula</i> Species of hydrozoan

Turritopsis nutricula is a small hydrozoan that once reaching adulthood, can transfer its cells back to childhood. This adaptive trait likely evolved in order to extend the life of the individual. Several different species of the genus Turritopsis were formerly classified as T. nutricula, including the "immortal jellyfish" which is now classified as T. dohrnii.

<i>Liriope tetraphylla</i> Species of hydrozoan

Liriope is a genus of hydrozoan in the family Geryoniidae. It contains only one species, Liriope tetraphylla.

References

  1. 1 2 "World Hydrozoa Database - Species". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  2. Kramp, P. L. (November 1961). "Synopsis of the Medusae of the World" (PDF). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 40: 237–265. doi:10.1017/S0025315400007347. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  3. Lindsay, Dhugal; Hunt, James; Hashimoto, Jun; Fujiwara, Yoshihiro; Fujikura, Katsunori; Miyake, Hiroshi; Tsuchida, Shinji (2000). "Submersible observations on the deep-sea fauna of the south-west Indian Ocean: preliminary results for the mesopelagic and near-bottom communities" (PDF). JAMSTEC Journal of Deep Sea Research, 16. Retrieved 2016-03-27.[ dead link ]
  4. Stübing, Dorothea; Piepenburg, Dieter (1998). "Occurrence of the benthic trachymedusa Ptychogastria polaris Allman, 1878 (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa) off Northeast Greenland and in the northern Barents Sea". Polar Biology. 19 (3): 193–197. doi:10.1007/s003000050234 . Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  5. Noyan Yilmaz, Izzet (8 February 2014). "Collapse of zooplankton stocks during Liriope tetraphylla (Hydromedusa) blooms and dense mucilaginous aggregations in a thermohaline stratified basin". Marine Ecology. Retrieved 2016-03-13.