''Bolinopsis infundibulum'', commonly known as the common northern comb jelly, is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
comb jelly
Ctenophora (; : ctenophore ) is a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and they are ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Bolinopsidae
Bolinopsidae is a family (biology), family of ctenophores.
Taxonomy
The family contains three genera with the following species:
*Genus ''Bolinopsis''
**''Bolinopsis ashleyi'' Gershwin, Zeidler & Davie, 2010
**''Bolinopsis chuni'' (von Lenden ...
. It is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and was
first described by the Danish naturalist
Otto Friedrich Müller
Otto Friedrich Müller, also known as Otto Friedrich Mueller (2 November 1730 – 26 December 1784) was a Denmark, Danish natural history, naturalist and scientific illustrator.
Biography
Müller was born in Copenhagen. He was educated for the ch ...
in 1776.
Description
''Bolinopsis infundibulum'' is an oblong comb jelly growing to a maximum length of about . The thin gelatinous body wall is transparent, or occasionally milky white. There are two short tentacles with fringed edges. The mouth is at one end of the body and has two large lobes beside it, used to funnel food towards it. Between the lobes are four auricles, gelatinous projections fringed with cilia, that produce feeding currents that help draw in the microscopic prey. The mouth is surrounded by a ring of
tentilla (little tentacles).
[ The other end of the body is bluntly pointed. Locomotion is provided by the four long longitudinal rows and four short rows of cilia. These cilia are arranged on transverse plates and beat in synchrony, giving the animal its iridescent appearance. The plates to which the cilia are attached are ]bioluminescent
Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms inc ...
. Ctenophores differ from cnidarians due to the fact that ctenophores lack stinging cells. Instead, they use colloblasts to capture their prey.
Distribution
''Bolinopsis infundibulum'' occurs in the northern Atlantic, its range extending from the Arctic to the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
in the east and the Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...
in the west. It also occurs in the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
from the Bering Sea
The Bering Sea ( , ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre, p=ˈbʲerʲɪnɡəvə ˈmorʲe) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasse ...
to California. It is found to a depth of about , with the largest individuals found at greater depths.
Ecology
''Bolinopsis infundibulum'' is a predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
and sometimes occurs in swarms.[ The food is drawn towards the mouth by the feeding current created by movement of cilia. Weakly swimming prey such as fish eggs and fry, ]copepod
Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...
larvae, gastropod veliger
A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells.
Description
The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod taxono ...
s, rotifer
The rotifers (, from Latin 'wheel' and 'bearing'), sometimes called wheel animals or wheel animalcules, make up a phylum (Rotifera ) of microscopic and near-microscopic Coelom#Pseudocoelomates, pseudocoelomate animals.
They were first describ ...
s and other tiny zooplankton
Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...
are then trapped by the tentilla and ingested.food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as ...
, occurring in large numbers off the coast of Norway from April to August, and in Scotland from April to June. As many as 250 individuals per square metre have been recorded in mid-May, followed by a rapid decline. This sudden population collapse is believed to be caused by predation by another species of comb jelly, '' Beroe cucumis''.[ Larger individuals of ''B. infundibulum'' have been reported from deeper waters, preying on copepods, later in the year.]
References
infundibulum An infundibulum (Latin for ''funnel''; plural, ''infundibula'') is a funnel-shaped cavity or organ.
Anatomy
* Brain: the pituitary stalk, also known as the ''infundibulum'' and ''infundibular stalk'', is the connection between the hypothalamus an ...
Fauna of the Atlantic Ocean
Taxa named by Otto Friedrich Müller
Animals described in 1776