Scyphomedusae and Cubomedusae from the Eastern Pacific

Scyphomedusae and Cubomedusae from the Eastern Pacific

FAU Institutional Repository http://purl.fcla.edu/fau/fauir This paper was submitted by the faculty of FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Notice: ©1990 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami. This manuscript is available at http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/bms and may be cited as: Larson, R. J. (1990). Scyphomedusae and cubomedusae from the eastern Pacific. Bulletin of Marine Science, 47(2), 546-556. BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE. 47(2): 546-556,1990 BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE. 47(2): 546-556, 1990 from 0 SCYPHOMEDUSAEANDANDCUBOMEDUSAECUBOMEDUSAEFROMFROMTHETHE large 0 SCYPHOMEDUSAE expedi EASTERNEASTERNPACIFICPACIAC 1968a; medus R,R,J.J.LarsonLarson The report ABSTRACTABSTRACT study and cubome­ TheThepurposepurposeofofthisthispaperpaperisistotoreviewreviewthetheliteratureliteratureononthethescyphomedusaescyphomedusae and cubome­ and Fl are known from Alaska dusaedusaefromfromthetheeasterneasternPacific.Pacific.Forty-threeForty-threespeciesspeciesofscyphomedusaeofscyphomedusae are known from Alaska easten from the coast of totoChile.Chile.CubomedusaeCubomedusaearearerepresentedrepresentedonlyonlybybyCarybdeaCarybdeamarsupialismarsupia/is from the coast of SOIl this area, most occur in southernsouthernCalifornia.California.TenTenspeciesspeciesofofstauromedusaestauromedusae areareknownknownfromfrom this area, most occur in are ec octoradiatus is the shallow,shallow,subarcticsubarcticandandtemperatetemperatewaterswatersofofthetheNorthNorthPacific;Pacific;HaliclystusHaliclystus octoradiatus is the some (Stephanoscyphus sp.) mostmostcommon.common.FourteenFourteenspeciesspeciesofofcoronatecoronatemedusaemedusaeandandoneonepolyppolyp (Stephanoscyphus sp.) Thirteen species Work havehavebeenbeenreported,reported,most mostarearemesopelagicmesopelagicandandmanymanyarearewidelywidelydistributed.distributed. Thirteen species However, two meso­ of scy ofofsemaeostomessemaeostomesareareknownknownfromfromthetheeasterneasternPacific,Pacific,mostmostareareneritic.neritic. However, two meso­ have been collected at ducti, bathypelagicbathypelagic species,species, DeepstariaDeepstaria enigmaticaenigmaticaandandPoraliaPoralia ru/escens.rufescens, have been collected at is the most abundant HamI severalseverallocations,locations,includingincludingsouthernsouthernCalifornia.California.ChrysaorafuscescensChrysaorajuscescens is the most abundant high biomass levels in semaeostomesemaeostome speciesspecies inin thethe northeasternnortheastern PacificPacificandandcancan occuroccuratat high biomass levels in 1988) subtropical-tropical. inshoreinshore waters.waters. RhizostomesRhizostomes areare representedrepresented byby onlyonly fivefive species,species, allall subtropical-tropical. repon badly in need of study. TheThe scyphomedusanscyphomedusan faunafauna alongalong thethe entireentire easterneasternPacificPacificcoastcoastisis badly in need of study. distributions of TheThe taxonomytaxonomy ofofaa numbernumberofofspeciesspeciesrequiresrequiresclarification.clarification.TheThegeographicgeographic distributions of ecology. mostmost speciesspecies areare unlrnown.unknown. LittleLittleisis knownknown aboutabouttheirtheirbiologybiologyandand ecology. Me porte, often con- _ I Scyphomedusae, because of theirtheir size,size, upup toto I1 m m andand more,more, andand often con­ the seashore. Th' spicuous coloration, are familiar toto nearly everyoneeveryone whowho frequentsfrequents the seashore. elsew can have a large biomass in inshore waters They are also important predators that can have a large biomass in inshore waters tl the b 1988). Yet, (Pearcy, 1976; Moller, 1984; Shenker, 1984; Fancett and Jenkins, 1988). Yet, trati<l group is poorly along thethe Pacific coasts ofNorth, Central, and South America this group is poorly in thl described , known. For example, as recently as 1960, two large scyphomedusae were described I dam, (Russell, 1964; 1967). f forfor thethe firstfirst time fromfrom the waters off southern California (Russell, 1964; 1967). is SOl with very small CubomedusaeCubomedusae areare tetramerous,tetramerous, scyphomedusan-like medusae with very small imen uncer­ polyps thatthat transformtransform intointojuvenilejuvenile medusae. Their systematic position is uncer­ polyps 1979), or nc tain.tain.TheThemedusaemedusaehavehavemanymanyscyphozoanscyphozoanfeaturesfeatures (Larson, 1986; Satterlie, 1979), them in a Cube butbut becausebecause ofofdifferencesdifferences inin thethe polyps,polyps, Werner (1975)(1975) has placed them in a Pacific. nortl separateseparateclassclass (the(theCubozoa).Cubozoa). OnlyOnlyoneone speciesspecies isis known fromfrom the eastern Pacific. is in need How TheThecubomedusancubomedusanandandscyphomedusanscyphomedusanfaunafaunafromfrom thetheeasterneasternPacific is in need are still conc ofoffurtherfurtherinvestigation.investigation. TheThe correctcorrect namesnames forfor severalseveral commoncommon speciesspecies are still and ecology inindoubtdoubtandandsomesomenamesnameshavehavechanged.changed.TheirTheirnaturalnaturalhistory,history,biologybiologyand ecology (Lan have receivedreceivedlittlelittleattention.attention. descl have fauna HereHereII reviewreviewthethescantscantandandscatteredscatteredliteratureliterature onon thethe scyphomedusanscyphomedusan fauna chan known about ofofthetheeasterneasternPacificPacificfromfromAlaskaAlaskatotoChile.Chile. II presentpresentwhatwhatlittlelittle isis known about Barb further thisthisgroupgrouptotoshowshowhowhowimportantimportantititisisthatthatthethescyphomedusaescyphomedusae receivereceive further ofC don( study.study. on scy­ It HistoricalHistoricalAccount.-UntilAccount. - Untilthethelastlast twotwo decades,decades, almostalmostallall thethe studiesstudieson scy­ investigation eastl phomedusaephomedusaefromfromthetheeasterneasternPacificPacificwereweretaxonomic.taxonomic.TheTheearliestearliestinvestigation mostly from the' waswasthatthatofofBrandtBrandt(1835;(1835;1838)1838)whowhodescribeddescribedaanumbernumberofofspecies,species,mostly from Chi, they were beau­ thetheBeringBeringSea.Sea.AlthoughAlthoughBrandt'sBrandt'sspeciesspeciesdescriptionsdescriptionswerewerebrief,brief,they were beau­ spec studies ofthe tifullytifullyandandaccuratelyaccuratelyillustratediJJustratedbybyMertens.Mertens.TheThemostmostexhaustiveexhaustivestudies of the 1913; 1914; pelagicpelagicscyphomedusaescyphomedusaefromfromthisthiscoastcoastwereweredonedonebybyBigelowBigelow(1909;(1909;1913; 1914; Scm Also, are I 1920;1920;1928; 1928; 1940)1940)whowhodescribeddescribedmaterialmaterialfromfromthetheBeringBeringSeaSeatotoColombia.Colombia.Also, importantimportantarearepaperspapersbybyAlvariiioAlvarino(1967;(1967;1969;1969;1972;1972;1976)1976)ofofscyphomedusaescyphomedusae stud 546546 lARSON:lARSON: EASTERNEASTERN PAClFlCPACIFlCSCYPHOMEDUSAESCYPHOMEDUSAE ANDANDCUBOMEDUSAECUBOMEDUSAE 547547 from off southern California and Mexico. Segura-Puertas (1984)(1984) reportedreported onon thethe largelarge collection of medusae (mostly(mostly hydromedusae)hydromedusae) takentaken byby thethe EASTROPACEASTROPAC expeditions inin thethe tropicaltropical easterneastern Pacific.Pacific. Further south,south, KrampKramp (1952;(1952; 1966;1966; 1968a; 1968b), Fagetti (1973),(1973), and Larson (1986)(1986) describeddescribed thethe pelagicpelagic scypho­scypho­ medusae from thethe coast ofofChile. The benthic stauromedusae areare lessless well known. TheThe mostmostextensiveextensivetaxonomictaxonomic report on this group was done by Gwilliam (1956),(1956), but unfortunatelyunfortunately mostmostofofthisthis study was never published. More recently,recently, papers by LarsonLarson (1988)(1988) andand LarsonLarson and Fautin (1989)(1989) described threethree new speciesspecies ofofstauromedusaestauromedusae fromfrom thethe north­north­ eastern Pacific, includingincluding a new genus andand family.family. Some ofthethe more recent studies on thethe scyphomedusaescyphomedusaefromfrom thetheeasterneasternPacificPacific are ecological. Alvarifio (1967; 1976) has described thethe depth distributions ofof some oceanic scyphomedusae fromfrom thethe coastscoasts of CaliforniaCalifornia andand BajaBaja California.California. Work by Pearcy (1972; 1976) and Shenker (1984)(1984) havehave shownshown thatthat thethe biomassbiomass of scyphomedusae, mostly Chrysaora fuscescens,fuscescens, isis extremely high offoffthethe pro­ ductive upwelling coast of Oregon. Studies inin thethe Bering Sea (Harrison,(Harrison, 1984;1984; Hamner and Schneider, 1986) and inin British Columbia (Strand(Strand andand Hamner,Hamner, 1988) also emphasize thethe ecological importanceimportance of thisthis group.group. TheseThese andand otherother reports suggest thatthat scyphomedusae are an importantimportant part ofpelagic foodfood chains.chains. DISCUSSION More than 40 species of scyphomedusae and one cubomedusa have beenbeen re­re­ ported from thethe eastern Pacific (Table(Table 1).I). The taxonomic status of some scyphomedusaescyphomedusae fromfrom thethe easterneastern PacificPacific andand elsewhere is confused. Primarily thisthis isis because many species were describeddescribed onon the basis of only a few specimens, sometimes inin mutilated condition,condition, andand illus­illus­ trations were inadequate.inadequate. This has ledled toto confusion,confusion, especially regardingregarding speciesspecies in the genus Chrysaora. Type specimens, even ififtheythey exist, areare very mutilatedmutilated oror damaged and coloration has fadedfaded so thatthat theythey are oflittlelittle help. Although therethere

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