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Species
Gonionemus vertens A. Agassiz, 1862
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Gonionemus vertens is a species of jellyfish.
Appearance[edit]
The appearance of Gonionemus vertens is usually described as having an transparent bell lined with up to 90 tentacles and colored gonads; orange, red, or violet if the specimen is female or yellow-brown if it is male. The gonads are arranged hanging from four radial canals so that when viewed from above, the gonads are lined perpendicularly. The manubrium, colored tan, hangs down in the middle. The whole polyp is only about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. The species is often found clinging to seaweed or eelgrass giving it the nickname "the clinging jellyfish".
Distribution[edit]
In the United States, Gonionemus vertens specimen have been found on the Pacific coast, from The Aleutian Islands to Southern California, and on the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts to North Carolina. In Asian waters they have been reported from northern Zhejiang, the Sea of Japan, Olga Bay and the northern Japanese Islands. And in Europe: from the Mediterranean Sea to Norway.
Gonionemus vertens has in addition been reported to be very venomous in waters near Japan and Russia, and harmless in the Atlantic.
References[edit]
- ^ WoRMS (2011). P. Schuchert, ed. "Gonionemus vertens A. Agassiz, 1862". World Hydrozoa database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
Further reading[edit]
- An all-purpose guide labeling and discussing venomous and poisonous marine animals -- Venomous and poisonous marine animals: a medical and biological handbook view here
- A paragraph description of The Clinging Jellyfish, Gonionemus vertens view here
- "Gonionemus vertens". JNCC.
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Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gonionemus_vertens&oldid=633085815 |
Biology/Natural History: Feeds on small crustaceans, especially copepods. The polyp is seldom seen. The polyps of this species found in Kamchatka are highly venomous but those along our coast are not.
Older references list this species as a member of the Trachyline medusae.
This bell-shaped hydromedusa (usually just slightly broader than tall) has about 60-80 unbranched tentacles which evenly spaced around the margin of the bell. The tentacles have large rings of nematocycts all along their length (photo), and partway back from the tip of each tentacle is a larger adhesive knob or pad used for attachment to objects (photo). The tentacle tends to bend at the disk (photo). The tentacle bulbs at the base of the tentacles are yellowish-tan (photo). The 4 radial canals are unbranched and continue all the way to the margin of the bell. There are no centripetal canals. Ruffled flaplike orange, red, violet (in females), or yellow-brown (in males) gonads hang down along the 4 radial canals and form a clearly visible X shape (see photo above). The manubrium is colored tan and hangs down about to the bell margin, with 4 slightly frilly lips. The bell may be clear or light green. (It is unusual for a hydrozoan medusa to be colored). Diameter to 2.5 cm.
'Umbrella hemispherical or somewhat flatter; jelly moderately thick; velum very broad. Four radial canals and ring canal moderately broad; Manubrium fusiform, slightly shorter than bell cavity, on slight gastric peduncle; mouth with four perradial lips with slightly crenulated margins. The four gonads in form of folded pendant sac, along greater part of radial canals.' (Kramp 1961)
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Rights holder/Author | Wolf, Elizabeth, Wolf, Elizabeth, EOL Interns LifeDesk |
Source | http://eolinterns.lifedesks.org/pages/2318 |
also found on other western European coasts
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Source | http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=117768 |
Arctic to Cape Cod; Cobscook Bay
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Source | http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=117768 |
circum-(sub)tropical
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Rights holder/Author | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License |
Source | http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=117768 |
Geographical Range: Alaska to southern California, Kamchatka, northern Japan, Arctic Ocean, N Atlantic to Cape Cod. On our Pacific coast not common south of Puget Sound but some blooms have appeared farther south such as near Santa Barbara, CA.
Circumglobal in northern temperate coastal waters.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wolf, Elizabeth, Wolf, Elizabeth, EOL Interns LifeDesk |
Source | http://eolinterns.lifedesks.org/pages/2318 |
'The adhesive pads of Gonionemus vertens, located near the distal end of each tentacle, consist of a layer of columnar glandulomuscular cells surrounded by a collar of microfilament containing epithelial cells. The glandulomuscular cells contain dense secretory rods, microtubules, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi elements and myonemes. Axons located between the basal portions of the glandulomuscular cells form synapses with the glandulomuscular cells. The roles of these various cell organelles in adhesion and detachment process are discussed.' (Singla 1977)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wolf, Elizabeth, Wolf, Elizabeth, EOL Interns LifeDesk |
Source | http://eolinterns.lifedesks.org/pages/2318 |