Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T05:13:14.319Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

In Situ Observations of Deepwater Medusae in the Genus Deepstaria, with a Description of D. Reticulum, Sp. Nov.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

R. J. Larson
Affiliation:
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 9600 Old Dixie Highway, Fort Pierce, FL 34946
L. P. Madin
Affiliation:
† Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
G. R. Harbison
Affiliation:
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 9600 Old Dixie Highway, Fort Pierce, FL 34946

Extract

Medusae are common constituents of the meso-and bathypelagic fauna. Small, transparent trachyline hydromedusae are usually most abundant, but the larger (2–10 cm diameter) pigmented coronate scyphomedusae are often collected in trawl nets (Thurston, 1977; Roe, James & Thurston, 1984; Larson, 1986) or observed from submersibles (Mackie & Mills, 1983; Mackie, 1985; Larson, Madin & Harbison, unpublished observations). Larger (30–70 cm) deep-sea semaeostome scyphomedusae are only infrequently collected in nets (Harbison, Smith & Backus, 1973; Larson, 1986), and would appear to be the rarest forms. For example, Thurston (1977) collected over 16000 midwater medusae in trawls yet he did not report taking a single mesopelagic semaeostome. However, recent investigations using submersibles have shown that these medusae are much more common than net hauls alone would suggest (Smith, 1982).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barham, E. G., 1969. A window in the sea. Oceans, 1, 5560.Google Scholar
Barham, E. G. & Pickwell, G. V., 1969. The giant isopod Anuropus:a scyphozoan symbiont. Deep-Sea Research, 16, 525529.Google Scholar
Hamner, W. M. & Dunn, D. F., 1980. Tropical Corallimorpharia (Coelenterata: Anthozoa): feeding by envelopment. Micronesica, 16, 3741.Google Scholar
Harbison, G. R., 1987. Direct observation in plankton ecology. In Science Applications of Current Diving Technology on the U.S. Continental Shelf (ed. Cooper, R. A. and Shepard, A. N.), pp. 8592. Washington, D.C.: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [Symposium Series in Undersea Research, vol. 2.]Google Scholar
Harbison, G. R., Madin, L. P. & Swanberg, N. R., 1978. On the natural history and distribution of oceanic ctenophores. Deep-Sea Research, 25, 233256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbison, G. R., Smith, K. L. Jr, & Backus, R. H., 1973. Stygiomedusa fabulosa from the North Atlantic: its taxonomy, with a note on its natural history. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 53, 615617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurst, A., 1968. The feeding mechanism and behaviour of the opisthobranch Melibe leonina. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, no. 22, 151166.Google Scholar
Larson, R. J., 1978. Aspects of Feeding and Functional Morphology of Scyphomedusae. M.S. Thesis, University of Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Larson, R. J., 1986. Pelegic scyphomedusae (Scyphozoa: Coronatae and Semaeostomeae) of the Southern Ocean. Biology of the Antarctic Seas XVI. Antarctic Research Series, 41, 58165.Google Scholar
Mackie, G. O., 1985. Midwater macroplankton of British Columbia studied by submersible Pisces IV. Journal of Plankton Research, 7, 753777.Google Scholar
Mackie, G. O. & Mills, C. E., 1983. Use of the Pisces IV submersible for zooplankton studies in coastal water of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 40, 763776.Google Scholar
Madin, L. P., 1988. Feeding behavior of tentaculate predators: in situ observations and a conceptual model. Bulletin of Marine Science, in press.Google Scholar
Pearcy, W. G. & Stuiver, M., 1983. Vertical transport of carbon-14 into deep-sea food webs. Deep-Sea Research, 30, 427440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, P. J., 1973. The occurrence of a remarkable scyphozoan Deepstaria enigmatica in the Gulf of Mexico, and some observations on cnidarian symbionts. Gulf Research Reports, 4, 166168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roe, H. S. J., James, P. T. & Thurston, M. H., 1984. The diel migrations and distributions within a mesopelagic community in the north east Atlantic. 6. Medusae, ctenophores, amphipods and euphausiids. Progress in Oceanography, 13, 425—460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F. S., 1967. On a remarkable new scyphomedusan. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 47, 469–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, K. L., 1982. Zooplankton of a bathyl benthic boundary layer: in situ rates of oxygen consumption and ammonium excretion. Limnology and Oceanography, 27, 461471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurston, M. H., 1977. Depth distributions of Hyperia spinigera Bovallius, 1889 (Crust-acea: Amphipoda) and medusae in the North Atlantic Ocean, with notes on the associations between Hyperia and coelenterates. In A Voyage of Discovery [George Deacon 70th Anniversary Volume] (ed. Angel, M.), pp. 499563. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Winkler, J. T. & Soest, R. W. M. Van, 1981. First record of the scyphomedusa Deepstaria enigmatica Russell, 1967, from the mid North Atlantic Ocean (Coelenterata, Scyphozoa). Bulletin. Zoologisch Museum, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 8(4), 3338.Google Scholar