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Gulf of Mexico Science Volume 16 Article 4 Number 1 Number 1
1998 First Report of Carybdea alata var. grandis (Reynaud 1830) (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) from the Gulf of Mexico William M. Graham Dauphin Island Sea Lab
DOI: 10.18785/goms.1601.04 Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/goms
Recommended Citation Graham, W. M. 1998. First Report of Carybdea alata var. grandis (Reynaud 1830) (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) from the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf of Mexico Science 16 (1). Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol16/iss1/4
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gulf of Mexico Science by an authorized editor of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Graham: First Report of Carybdea alata Var. grandis (Reynaud 1830) (Cnida
SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES
Gulf of Mexico Scimce, 1998(1), pp. 28-30 Identification.-In the laboratory, the cubome © HJ98 by the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium of Alabama dusa was measured and photographed to aid in identification. The medusa measured 19.5 FIRST REPORT OF CARYBDEA ALATA VAR. em in bell height, from the base of the tentacle GRANDIS (REYNAUD 1830) (CNIDARIA: CU to the apex of the bell, and 15 em across (flat BOZOA) FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO. tened). Rhopalia on each corner of the me A single large cubomedusa (Cnidaria: Cubo dusa were 8.5 em apart. The medusa had four zoa) was recovered from a shrimp trawl in the simple interradial pedalia and tentacles and northern Gulf of Mexico on 8 April 1996. The four stomach pouches without diverticulae, location of the collection was approximately 20 which places the it in the family Carybdeidae. km south of the mouth of the Mobile Bay es Biopsied gonadal material showed that the tuary (30°2.8'N, 88°2.1'W). The trawl, which specimen was a male and was probably repro lasted approximately 20 min, contained no ductively mature based on the presence of other large medusae of the classes Hydrozoa, well-developed sperm follicles. The medusa Scyphozoa, or Cubozoa. Upon collection, the was preserved in 3% formaldehyde in seawater medusa was immediately placed in a 20-liter and is currently housed in the author's collec bucket of surface water and kept alive during tion at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. transport back to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Taxonomic surveys of the Cubozoa are ex During this time, the medusa continued puls tremely limited, and attempts to identify the ing, indicating relatively good condition. medusa using local and regional taxonomic The 22-m water column was highly salt-strat surveys (e.g., Phillips and Burke, 1970; Kraeu ified, with salinities of 16.5%o and >34.0%o at ter and Setzler, 1975) proved unsuccessful in the surface and bottom, respectively, separated identifying the specimen based on previously by a strong halocline between 4 and 8 m. Tem reported Carybdeids. With the assistance of perature was nearly uniform around 18 C several specialists in cubozoan biology (G. Mat throughout the water column. An oblique zoo sumoto, R. Larson, W. Hamner), the medusa plankton tow (153-f.Lm mesh, 0.5-m-diameter was tentatively identified as Carybdea alata var. net) over the vertical extent of the water col grandis (Reynaud 1830). This identification was umn was collected near this site. Because both confirmed using the description (formerly trawl and plankton tows were collected Charybdea grandis, n. sp.) of Agassiz and Mayer throughout the entire water column, no pre ( 1902) and the compendium of Kramp ( 1961). sumption can be made about the vertical dis This species is by far the largest of the Caryb tribution of the constituent taxa. However, it is deids and can reach 23 em in height (Kramp, reasonable to expect that the cubozoan was 1961). captured at or near the bottom. The zooplankton tow reflected a mixed as Cmybdea alata in the Caribbean Basin.-A thor semblage of both typical northern Gulf of Mex ough review of generic indices indicates that ico species (dominated by the heterotrophic no other record of this species exists anywhere dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans) and numer in the Gulf of Mexico. Cmybdea alata is de ous tropical species. In particular, numerous scribed as a circumtropical species widely dis unidentified a can tharians-surface-dwelling tributed in both the tropical Atlantic and Pa marine protozoans with strontium sulfate skel cific Oceans (Kramp, 1961). Other accounts of etons-suggested a mixing of the local plank Carybdeid cubomedusae in the Gulf of Mexico ton assemblage with one of tropical origin. include Tamoya haplonema (Miiller 1859) in the Acantharians are not normally found in shal Mississippi Sound (Phillips and Burke, 1970) low coastal seas, but they are abundant in the and Cmybdea aurifera (Mayer 1900) by Hedge the zooplankton community of the eastern Ca peth ( 1954). However, the account of C. awi ribbean and Sargasso Seas (Raymont, 1983). A Jera was most likely either a juvenile C. sivickisi tropical origin is further supported by the pres (Kramp, 1961) or a juvenile T. haplonema (Phil ence of two highly recognizable tropical cope lips and Burke, 1970). In addition to the pods of the genera Sappharina and Copilia. Carybdeid cubomedusae, the Gulf of Mexico These two genera are described as warm-water also contains the "sea wasp" Chiropsalmus quad residents that may be carried to higher lati rumanus, which causes a painful and potential tudes by warm currents (Raymont, 1983). ly lethal (e.g., Fenner and Williamson 1996)
Published by The Aquila Digital Community, 1998 1 Gulf of Mexico Science, Vol. 16 [1998], No. 1, Art. 4 SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES 29
Fig. 1. AVHRR thermal satellite image of the Gulf of Mexico, 2 April 1996. Lighter areas indicate cooler water. Location of the periphery of the Loop Current and an associated warm filament are indicated. Location of collection is indicated by an "X". Image courtesy of R. Arnone, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center.
sting. Inadvertent handling of the C. alata spec Loop Current can be conserved even when the imen during trawl sorting did not result in a physical characteristics have been well-modi noticeable sting. However, copious amounts of fied, as suggested by the cooler waters (18 C). mucus in the bucket contained unfired sting The occurrence of C. alata in the northern ing cells similar to those observed by Shanks Gulf of Mexico can be attributed to the loca and Graham (1988) for the scyphomedusa Sto tion of the Loop Current in the Gulf. Thermal molophus meleagris. Based on this lack of a pain satellite imagery from the days prior to this col ful sting, as well as the large size and other lection indicated a well-developed filament of taxonomic characteristics discussed, the me the Loop Current extending to about 29°N lat dusa collected off Mobile Bay cannot be mis itude (Fig. 1). Such northward extensions of taken for anything other than C. alatavar. gran the Loop Current can be expected once to sev dis. eral times per year, with frequency of occur The occurrence of this species in the north rence from historical accounts (Kelly, 1991) ern Gulf of Mexico is most likely aberrant and being independent of the time of year. Trans does not reflect a local reproductive popula port of other tropical organisms, such as Por tion. Based on historical accounts of the C. ala tuguese man-war (Physalia physalia) (Lane, fa distribution and on the presence of acan 1960; Purcell, 1984), sargassum weed and as tharians in the nearby zooplankton collection, sociates (e.g., Stoner, 1983), and a variety uf it is most likely that the specimen was trans tropical fishes (R. Shipp, pers. comm.), into ported into the northern Gulf of Mexico in a the Gulf of Mexico is not particularly unusual, water mass of tropical origin. Advection and and these organisms are considered at least mixing of tropical water onto the northern temporary members of the local biological Gulf of Mexico shelf can occur when the Gulf community. Therefore, in spite of its rarity, of Mexico Loop Current, deriving its physical which is most likely due to infrequent sam and biological characteristics from the Carib pling, the cubomedusa C. alata var. grandis bean Sea, pushes northward into the central must also be included as a temporary resident Gulf. Eddies or filaments derived from the of the Gulf of Mexico. Loop Current can be entrained or diluted on the northern Gulf shelf. Of particular interest Acknowledgments.-The author thanks R. Arno here is that the biological characteristics of the ne of the Naval Research Lab for providing sat- https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol16/iss1/4 2 DOI: 10.18785/goms.1601.04 Graham: First Report of Carybdea alata Var. grandis (Reynaud 1830) (Cnida 30 GULF OF MEXICO SCIENCE, 1998, VOL. 16(1)
ellite imagery and the captain and crew of the KRru'
Published by The Aquila Digital Community, 1998 3