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Species
Mnemiopsis leidyi (Agassiz 1865)
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Mnemiopsis leidyi is a ctenophore that is native to the western Atlantic, but by the late 1980s was established as an invasive exotic in the Black Sea, presumably after crossing the Atlantic in ship ballast water (it has subsequently appeared in the Caspian, Aegean, Azov, Marmara, North, Baltic, Skagerrak, and Mediterranean Seas). It reached very large numbers and depleted stocks of zooplankton as well as fish eggs and larvae, triggering the crash of several fisheries. In 1997, however, another ctenophore native to the western Atlantic, Beroe ovata, was discovered in the northeastern Black Sea. Beroe ovata is known to feed on planktivorous ctenophores and, in particular, on M. leidyi. The arrival of B. ovata appears to have stabilized the Black Sea ecosystem, leading to a reduction in M. leidyi populations and subsequent recovery of plankton and fish populations. (Shiganova et al. 2003 and references therein)
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Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |
United States
Origin: Native
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Present
Confidence: Confident
Type of Residency: Year-round
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Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Mnemiopsis+leidyi |
In its native range, Mnemiopsis leidyi is found from Cape Cod Bay (Massachusetts, U.S.A.) southward and is the most common ctenophore south of Cape Cod. It enters the nearly freshwater parts of estuaries such as Chesapeake Bay. (Gosner 1978)
Mnemiopsis leidyi is native to the Atlantic coast of the United States, but over the past several decades it has invaded the Black, Caspian, Aegean, Azov, Marmara, North, Baltic, and Skagerrak Seas and has recently been reported to be established in the Mediterranean Sea (Faasse and Bayha 2006; Javidpour et al. 2006; Boersma et al. 2007; Reitzel et al. 2007 and references therein; Fuentes et al. 2010; Reusch et al. 2010 and references therein).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |
Mnemiopsis leidyi has a somewhat flattened oval body with lobes exceeding the body length; it is brilliantly luminescent (Gosner 1978).
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Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |
Mnemiopsis leidyi reaches around 10 cm (Gosner 1978).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |
Depth range based on 3 specimens in 1 taxon.
Environmental ranges
Depth range (m): 0 - 0
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.
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Rights holder/Author | Ocean Biogeographic Information System |
Source | http://www.iobis.org/mapper/?taxon_id=472193 |
De Amerikaanse ribkwal Mnemiopsis leidyi is een beruchte predator van dierlijk plankton en viseieren. Deze soort kwam oorspronkelijk enkel voor langs de Atlantische kusten van Noord- en Zuid-Amerika, maar werd in de jaren 1980 via het ballastwater van vrachtschepen per ongeluk geïntroduceerd in de Zwarte Zee. De introductie leidde tot de ineenstorting van het ecosysteem. Sinds enkele jaren komt de Amerikaanse ribkwal nu ook voor in de Noordzee en het is afwachten en zien wat de ecologische gevolgen bij ons zullen zijn.
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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=106401 |
The sea walnut Mnemiopsis leidyi is an infamous predator of zooplankton and fish eggs. The species’ natural area of distribution is along the Atlantic coast of North- and South-America. In the 1980's the sea walnut was accidently introduced in the Black Sea as a stowaway in ballast water of cargo ships. The introduction led to a collapse of the ecosystem. Since a couple of years, the sea walnut is also present in the North Sea, and we now have to wait and see what ecological consequences it will bring to the region.
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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=106401 |
Young of the burrowing anemone Edwardsiella lineata (formerly known as Edwardsia leidyi or Fagesia lineata as a consequence of taxonomic confusion, Daly 2002), which resemble pinkish tentacled worms, are parasitic in the guts of ctenophores, including Mnemiopsis leidyi (Gosner 1978). The ecological and developmental relationships among E. lineata, M. leidyi, and another ctenophore, Beroe ovata, were studied by Reitzel et al. (2007). They found that although E. lineata infects both of these ctenophores, E. lineata larvae proved far more successful at infecting M. leidyi than B. ovata. Furthermore, E. lineata parasites excised from M. leidyi exhibited greater developmental competence than did E. lineata excised from B. ovata. The authors found that, although E. lineata is efficiently transferred from M. leidyi to B. ovata when the latter preys upon the former, E. lineata larvae are not well adapted for parasitizing or feeding in the latter species. Their results strongly suggest that M. leidyi is the preferred host--and possibly the only suitable natural host--for E. lineata. Although in the wild B. ovata can become more heavily infested than M. leidyi with E. lineata, B. ovata nevertheless appears to be an inadvertent host that acquires E. lineata parasites principally, if not exclusively, from feeding on infected M. leidyi. Furthermore, E. lineata’s competence to complete development from the parasite to the adult polyp is affected by both its size and the terminal host it occupies. Development proceeds more quickly and successfully when M. leidyi is the terminal host. (Conveniently for researchers, when E. lineata is excised from its host, it undergoes a rapid developmental transformation, during which it morphs from the nonciliated, vermiform [worm-like] body plan it exhibits as a parasite into the ciliated, fusiform body plan typical of a planula larva. Remarkably, if provided with a second host, the planula can reinfect another ctenophore and revert to the parasite body plan, whereas if it is denied a second host, the planula can develop into a free-living polyp.) (Reitzel et al. 2007 and references therein)
Beroe ovata is a selective predator favoring M. leidyi in locations where the native ranges of these animals overlap, and along with B. ovata it has therefore been suggested as a biological control agent for invasive M. leidyi in the Black Sea (B. ovata has now established itself in much of the non-native range of M. leidyi, rendering planning for its possible use as a control agent largely academic). However, the combined effects of B. ovata and E. lineata on M. leidyi populations are difficult to predict. These effects could be strictly additive, or the 2 species might even act synergistically to drive M. leidyi populations more sharply downward. Either of these interactions could achieve the desired result of controlling M. leidyi. However, if E. lineata has a negative impact on B. ovata populations, particularly if E. lineata impacts B. ovata more negatively than it impacts M. leidyi, then the presence of E. lineata could undermine efforts to control M. leidyi using B. ovata. On the other hand, in the event that E. lineata has a similarly detrimental effect on both M. leidyi and B. ovata, the simultaneous deployment of E. lineata and B. ovata could serve as an effective control on M. leidyi populations that would be self-limiting, as B. ovata blooms could be controlled by the parasitic anemones. This last possibilty seems particularly important given that B. ovata may generalize its ecological niche to include feeding on other gelatinous zooplankton, including native ctenophores and jellyfish. Given the current level of understanding of interactions among these species, Reitzel et al. question the wisdom of any active effort to use E. lineata as a biological control agent against M. leidyi. (Reitzel et al. 2007)
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Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |
Kremer (1994) reviewed the ecology of Mnemiopsis leidyi and M. mccradyi in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters from Cape Cod to Texas.
In the invaded areas of the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas, large populations of Mnemiopsis leidyi have contributed to major ecological regime shifts from a pelagic system dominated by planktivorous fish to one dominated by gelatinous plankton, including a total collapse of the pelagic fisheries in the 1990s (Shiganova and Bulgakova 2000; Oguz et al. 2008).
In the early 1980s, M. leidyi was introduced to the Black Sea. By 1988, it had spread across the entire Sea and underwent a population explosion in the fall of 1989, with populations fluctuating dramatically in subsequent years. Huge M. leidyi populations decreased the biomass, density, and species diversity of edible zooplankton as well as fish eggs and larvae, the main food of M. leidyi. This, in turn, caused declines in stocks of planktivorous fish (such as anchovy [Engraulis encrasicolus ponticus], horse mackerel [Trachurus mediterraneus ponticus], and, to a lesser extent, sprat [Sprattus sprattus phalericus]). Declines in these fish populations led to declines in piscivorous fish and dolphins feeding mostly on anchovy and sprat. Mnemiopsis leidyi expanded from the Black Sea to the Seas of Azov and Marmara and were regularly carried out to the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea currents. In 1999, M. leidyi was introduced into the Caspian Sea, apparently, with ballast waters of oil tankers. An important factor permitting the explosion of M. leidyi populations was the lack of a predator in its new range. In 1997, however, another ctenophore native to the western Atlantic, Beroe ovata, was discovered in the northeastern Black Sea. Beroe ovata is known to feed on planktivorous ctenophores and, in particular, on M. leidyi. The arrival of Beroe ovata appears to have stabilized the Black Sea ecosystem, leading to a reduction in M. leidyi populations and subsequent recovery of plankton and fish populations. (Shiganova et al. 2003 and references therein)
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Shapiro, Leo, Shapiro, Leo, EOL Rapid Response Team |
Source | http://eolspecies.lifedesks.org/pages/23541 |