''Lipkea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of stalked jellyfish. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Lipkeidae. ''Lipkea'' species lack tentacles at the end of their bell.

Genera and Species

According to the World Register of Marine Species, there are only three described

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), ...

in this family and genus: *'' Lipkea ruspoliana'' Vogt, 1886 *'' Lipkea stephensoni'' Carlgren, 1933 *'' Lipkea sturdzi'' (Antipa, 1893)

Distribution

According to the World Register of Marine Species '' L. stephensoni'' is the only species known from the waters off the coast of South Africa. The other ''Lipkea'' species ('' Lipkea ruspoliana'' and '' Lipkea sturdzi'') are found in the mediterranean sea. It is likely that there are undescribed specimens of Lipkea. For instance the images in the gallery below show ''Lipkea'' with dense

nematocyst A cnidocyte (also known as a cnidoblast) is a type of cell containing a large secretory organelle called a ''cnidocyst'', that can deliver a sting to other organisms as a way to capture prey and defend against predators. A cnidocyte explosively ...

clusters (white spots) distributed throughout the oral surface, which are not characteristic of previous descriptions for the three described ''Lipkea''.

Gallery

File:Bell stalked jelly1.jpg, A ''Lipkea'' specimen with dense nematocyst clusters File:Bell stalked jellyfish.jpg, A cluster of ''Lipkea''

References

Lipkeidae Medusozoa genera {{Staurozoa-stub