Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T00:58:10.730Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Contribution to the understanding of seasonal cycle of Aurelia aurita (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) scyphopolyps in the northern Adriatic Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2010

Cristina Gioia Di Camillo*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
Federico Betti
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
Marzia Bo
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
Michela Martinelli
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
Stefania Puce
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
Giorgio Bavestrello
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: C.G. Di Camillo, Dipartimento di Scienze del Mare, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131 Ancona, Italy email: c.dicamillo@univpm.it

Abstract

Natural populations of Aurelia aurita scyphopolyps, settled on a wreck in the northern Adriatic Sea, were monitored for 22 months in order to study their seasonal cycle. The trend of Aurelia polyps is strongly dependent on water temperature with a peak of abundance in summer and low densities in winter. The strobilation process occurs only once a year, during the cold season, and the estimated number of released ephyrae is 780,000–2,600,000/m2. The species has been recorded only on the iron wreck while it is completely lacking from the close rocky cliff of Conero Promontory, suggesting that the increase of underwater structures of anthropogenic origin could be related to the increases of jellyfish biomass.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

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

ANSA (2007) mhtml:file://Z:DocUfficioStampa assegna stampa odiernaweb 30ANSA_it - Bloom di meduse in laguna del Gargano.Google Scholar
ARPA OSMER-FVG (2007) Bollettino delle acque marino-costiere del Friuli Venezia Giulia -n.12. http://www.arpa.fvg.it/fileadmin/Informazione/bollettini_OAA/Bollettino_OAA_FVG_aprile_07.pdfGoogle Scholar
Berking, S., Czech, N., Gerharz, M., Herrmann, K., Hoffmann, U., Raifer, H., Sekul, G., Siefker, B., Sommerei, A. and Vedder, F. (2005) A newly discovered oxidant defence system and its involvement in the development of Aurelia aurita (Schiphozoa, Cnidaria): reactive oxygen species and element iodine control medusa formation. International Journal of Developmental Biology 49, 969976.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blanquet, R.S. and Wetzel, B. (1975) Surface ultrastructure of the Scyphopolyps, Crysaora quinquecirrha. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 148, 181192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boero, F., Belmonte, G., Fanelli, G., Piraino, S. and Rubino, F. (1996) The continuity of living matter and the discontinuities of its constituents: do plankton and benthos really exist? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11, 177180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boero, F., Bouillon, J., Gravili, G., Miglietta, M.P., Parson, T. and Piraino, S. (2008) Gelatinous plankton: irregularities rule the world (sometimes). Marine Ecology Progress Series 356, 299310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulleri, F. and Airoldi, L. (2005) Artificial marine structures facilitate the spread of a non-indigenous green alga, Codium fragile ssp. tomentosoides, in the North Adriatic Sea. Journal of Applied Ecology 42, 10631072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calder, D.R. (1971) Nematocysts of polyps of Aurelia, Chrysaora, and Cyanea, and their utility in identification. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 90, 269274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calder, D.R. (1983) Nematocysts of stages in the life cycle of Stomolophus meleagris, with keys to scyphistomae and ephyrae of some western Atlantic Scyphozoa. Canadian Journal of Zoology 61, 11851192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, M.N and Martin, L.E. (2001) Geographic variation and ecological adaptation in Aurelia (Scyphozoa, Semaeostomeae): some implications from molecular phylogenetics. Hydrobiologia 451, 259273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Negro, P., Kokelj, F., Tubaro, A. and Della Loggia, R. (1992) Crysaora hysoscella in the Gulf of Trieste: presence, evolution and cutaneous toxicity in man. Science of the Total Environment Supplement, 427–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Gröndahl, F. (1988) Interactions between polyps of Aurelia aurita and planktonic larvae of scyphozoans: an experimental study. Marine Ecology Progress Series 45, 8793.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gröndahl, F. (1989) Evidence of gregarious settlement of planula larvae of the scyphozoan Aurelia aurita: an experimental study. Marine Ecology Progress Series 56, 119125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamner, W.M., Gilmer, R.W. and Hamner, P.P. (1982) The physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of a stratified, saline, sulfide lake in Palau. Limnology and Oceanography 27, 896909.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernroth, L. and Gröndahl, F. (1983) On the biology of Aurelia aurita (L.).1. Release and growth of Aurelia aurita (L.) ephyrae in the Gullmar Fjord, western Sweden, 1982–1983. Ophelia 22, 189199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernroth, L. and Gröndahl, F. (1985) On the biology of Aurelia aurita (L.). 3. Predation by Coryphella verrucosa (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia), A major factor regulating the development of Aurelia populations in the Gullmar Fjord, western Sweden. Ophelia 24, 3745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiromi, J., Yamamoto, T., Koyama, Y. and Kadota, S. (1995) Experimental study of predation of scyphopolyp Aurelia aurita. Bulletin of the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Nihon University 52, 126130.Google Scholar
Kakinuma, Y. (1975) An experimental study of the life cycle and organ differentiation of Aurelia aurita (Lamarck). Bulletin of the Marine Biological Station of Asamushi 15, 101113.Google Scholar
Keen, S. and Gong, A. (1989) Genotype and feeding frequency affect clone formation in a marine cnidarian (Aurelia aurita Lamarck 1816). Functional Ecology 3, 735745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroiher, M., Siefker, B. and Berking, S. (2000) Induction of segmentation in polyps of Aurelia aurita (Scyphozoa, Cnidaria) into medusae and formation of mirror-image medusa anlagen. International Journal of Developmental Biology 44, 485490.Google ScholarPubMed
Lindahl, O. and Hernroth, L. (1983) Phyto-zooplankton community in coastal waters of Western Sweden—an ecosystem off balance? Marine Ecology Progress Series 10, 119126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, C.H., Hirst, A.G. and Williams, J.A. (1997) Plankton dynamics and Aurelia aurita production from two contrasting ecosystems: comparisons and consequences. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 45, 209219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, C.H. (2001) Reproduction and life history strategies of the common jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, in relation to its ambient environment. Hydrobiologia 451, 229246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, C.E. (2001) Jellyfish blooms: are populations increasing globally in response to changing ocean conditions? Hydrobiologia 451, 5568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, H., Iwao, K. and Kakinuma, Y. (1997) Life history and environment of Aurelia aurita. South Pacific Study 17, 273285.Google Scholar
Miyake, H., Terazaki, M. and Kakinuma, Y. (2002) On the polyps of the common jellyfish Aurelia aurita in Kagoshima Bay. Journal of Oceanography 58, 451459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papathanassiou, E., Panayotidis, P. and Anagnostaki, K. (1987) Notes on the biology of the jellyfish Aurelia aurita L. in Elefsis Bay (Saronikos Gulf, Greece). Marine Biology 8, 4958.Google Scholar
Ponti, M., Abbiati, M. and Ceccherelli, V.U. (2002) Drilling platforms as artificial reefs: distribution of macrobenthic assemblages of the ‘Paguro’ wreck (northern Adriatic Sea). ICES Journal of Marine Science 59, 316323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puce, S., Bavestrello, G., Azzini, F. and Cerrano, C. (2003) On the occurrence of Coryne eximia Allman (Cnidaria, Coryniidae) in the Mediterranean Sea. Italian Journal of Zoology 70, 249252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purcell, J.E. and Arai, M.N. (2001) Interactions of pelagic cnidarians and ctenophores with fish: a review. Hydrobiologia 451, 2744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purcell, J.E., Graham, W.M. and Dumont, H.J. (eds) (2001) Jellyfish blooms: ecological and societal importance. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 333 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purcell, J.E. (2005) Climate effects on formation of jellyfish and ctenophore blooms: a review. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 85, 461476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasmussen, E. (1973) Systematics and ecology of the Isefjord marine fauna (Denmark). Ophelia 11, 4146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, F.S. (1970) The Medusae of the British Isles. II Pelagic Scyphozoa, with a supplement to the first volume on Hydromedusae. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 284 pp.Google Scholar
Schneider, G. and Behrends, G. (1994) Population dynamics and the trophic role of Aurelia aurita medusae in the Kiel Bight and western Baltic. ICES Journal of Marine Science 51, 359367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, G. and Behrends, G. (1998) Top-down control in a neritic plankton system by Aurelia aurita medusae—a summary. Ophelia 48, 7182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spangenberg, D.B. (1964) New observations of Aurelia. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society 83, 448455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spangenberg, D.B. (1967) Iodine induction of metamorphosis in Aurelia. Journal of Experimental Zoology 165, 441449.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spangenberg, D.B. (1968) Recent studies of strobilation in jellyfish. Oceanography and Marine Biology: an Annual Review 6, 231247.Google Scholar
Thiel, H. (1962) Untersuchungen über die strobilisation von Aurelia aurita Lam. an einer population der Kieler Förde. Kieler Meeresforschungen 18, 198230.Google Scholar
Tsikon-Lukanina, E.A., Reznichenko, O.G. and Lukasheva, T.A. (1995) Food intake by scyphistomae of the medusa Aurelia aurita in the Black Sea. Okeanologiya 35, 895899.Google Scholar
Uchida, T. and Nagao, Z. (1963) The metamorphosis of the Scyphomedusa, Aurelia limbata (Brandt). Annotationes Zoologicae Japonense 36, 8391.Google Scholar
Watanabe, T. and Ishii, H. (2001) In situ estimation of ephyrae liberated from polyps of Aurelia aurita using settling plates in Tokyo Bay, Japan. Hydrobiologia 451, 247258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar