This "jelly ball" has been saw twice floating in shallow marine waters in Sicily (Mediterranean Sea). Someone suggested that it might be a damaged jelly umbrella but the evident bilateral symmetry suggests that it should not be a jellyfish. Hence the "damaged jellyfish umbrella" seems improbable. It might possibly be part of an organism or even an ooteca (mollusk ooteca?). What's your idea about?
No doubt, this is what remains of a scyphozoan jellyfish Chrysaora hysoscella. Probably it has experienced a turtle bite! Keep it in ethanol, we are working on this species, please!! Grazie, Luigi
No doubt, this is what remains of a scyphozoan jellyfish Chrysaora hysoscella. Probably it has experienced a turtle bite! Keep it in ethanol, we are working on this species, please!! Grazie, Luigi
Hence the "damaged jellyfish umbrella" is actually not that improbable. Thanks!
This is Chrysaora hysoscella in better shape.. any samples (just a piece - the size of a finger - in ethanol 90%) will be much appreciated. This is the right season to meet them in coastal waters. ciao
It is Chrysaora hysoscella.. my blog link for the same is.. https://marinelifeindia.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/watch-out-compass-jelly-fish-chrysaora-hysoscella-linnaeus-1767/
Best
Deepak
Hi Stephano, can you please develop more on this identification? I have a similar case to Luigi, with these "balls" however in South America and quite interesting since they showed up in the surface of the ocean close to an island in numbers of hundreds in a small area, then many were washed out to the shore of the island. These "balls" were very similar to what Luigi is showing us, but without the banding color and slightly more elongated. No marginal tentacles nor oral arms. Just these balls with a small opening in one of its pole. I collected one and was indeed "jelly" but also turgent or quite solid, and could not see any section that could resemble to a lesion or a bite and being so many at once and distributed in a small area, seems to me a natural status or stage rather than remains of many individuals somehow injured collectively in the same way at the same time. But again, I am no expert on this taxon.
So, these are stages in the development of these jelly fish? can you elaborate on this a little bit more? it is very interesting. Many thanks
Hi Gian Paolo, thanks for your comments, and of course I am glad to provide more details. Cnidarians are renowned for their striking potential of regeneration and you would not be able to see sharp tissue edges a few hours following mechanical injuries. Also, out of 124 known fish species and 34 other vertebrates known as jellyfish eaters, some of them are mainly gelativourous, eg. the leatherback sea turtles consumes up to 330kg wet biomass of jellyfish per day. It is quite common to find remnant of jellyfish umbrella following predation by gelativorous predators, as there is a marked preference for high-energy tissues, i.e. gonads, or tissues with higher number of cells per volume unit, like oral arms or tentacles. I attach herein a paper on common fish species in Mediterranean coastal areas predating on the mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca. As supplementary material on Plos ONE website you can find three short movies showing how fish are collectively attracted by mature jellyfish.
The specimen caught by Luigi is definitely not a developmental stage, but a remnant of C.hysoscella (no other jelly with such a typical pigmented pattern). Nonetheless, what you have observed in South America might be very different, of course. It is too speculative at this stage, without further information, to say whether you observed damaged cnidarians (scyphozoans? hydromedusae? syphonophores?), intact ctenophores, or even pelagic tunicates.. Being so many similar individuals at once in the same area it not unusual. It might be explained by the coincident occurrence of jelly predators (ie. turtles) enjoying a jellyfish bloom. When food is abundant, they favour, for instance, predation on gonads only. If food is scarce, then also less-energetic jellyfish body parts are consumed. I hope this clarified my views, but do not hesitate to ask more. Best Stefano
Thanks so much Stefano,
My sighting was in 1999 in an area where it is common to see Cyanea capillata. I had my sailboat anchored and saw these "balls" appearing around of it, slowly dispersing and getting some stranded in the nearby shore of the small island. It may take me some time to find the videos etc of that time, but here I have a partial picture. The size was about 11x18cm.
I have been so many years looking for an explanation for these "balls". Thanks again for your support in helping to better understand these cases. And to Luigi that posted his case.
Dhugal provided already the solution to your mistery animal, you met a bloom of pyrosomes (pelagic tunicate) for sure. Some of them can be much longer those you found (see pic). Notice, it is bizarre you encountered Cyanea capillata in the Southern hemisphere..
Thanks John, I did not know pyrosomes and just checking some pictures at google, I can see some of them just like what I saw in the ocean. Even the description to the touch, are just like what I recall. Thanks a lot.
Dear Stephano,
are you interested in a sample to C.hysoscella from French Atlantic coast?
Hi Antoine,
sure it will be great to obtain Chrysaora samples from different Atlantic spots. please mail ma a [email protected], and I will send you the protocol we use for subsampling and preservation. Thanks in advance, best
Stefano
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