Alatina alata (Reynaud, 1830),[1] often called a sea wasp, is a species of box jellyfish found in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and in the Caribbean and Arabian Sea.[2][3]
Ecology
Alatina alata is mostly observed in shallow near shore waters in tropical and subtropical climate, but also occurs offshore in deeper ocean waters. Live medusae collected had hyperiidae amphipods in their subumbrella and some had small carid shrimps and euphausiids in the gut or subumbrella.[2]
Description
Alatina alata is a transparent box jellyfish with an pyramidal with rounded tip umbrella, smooth exumbrella and thin and transparent mesoglea. The manubrium is short, square, with four simple lips, and without mesenteries joining manubrium walls to subumbrellar stomach walls. Four crescentic gastric phacellae (gastric filaments used for digestion) at interradial corners of stomach, disposed horizontally. Three simple to palmate branching velarial canals per octant, each with a velarial lappet bearing a row of 3 to 4 nematocyst warts; Gonads are conspicuous, extending from the base of stomach to nervous ring. Nervous ring connecting rhopalia, where it connects with the sense organ, and bases of pedalia. Four long perradial rhopalia on umbrella. Rhopalar niches composed of two small infero-lateral projections and one superior projection. Four long wing-like pedalia, each with a pink tentacle with bands of nematocysts along the entire length. Pedalial canal with a superior projection (diverticulum). Four perradial frenulae connectíng velarium and subumbrella. Cnidome: heterotrichous microbasic p-euryteles and small birhaploids[clarification needed] in tentacles, and large isorhizasin nematocyst warts.[4][5][6]
Distribution
Alatina alata ranges across the Pacific and Atlantic and possibly the Indian Ocean. It is also found in the Arabian Sea along the beaches of Pakistan.[7]
Toxicity
The rash and pain caused by Alatina alata (Carybdea alata) stings are self- limited, usually disappearing with no treatment from 20 minutes to one day. A few victims suffer generalized reactions, persistent pain and/or recurring, itching rash. No confirmed deaths have occurred from this box jellyfish's stings, but the pain they inflict can be severe.[8]
Taxonomy
The so-called winged box jellyfish was originally described in 1830 as Carybdea alata (Reynaud, 1830) in La Centurie Zoologique — a monograph published by René Primevère Lesson during the age of worldwide scientific exploration. Reynaud's brief description gave no details about the collection events or the whereabouts of the specimen, stating only that this box jellyfish "lives in the Atlantic Ocean". Carybdea alata is the second oldest name for a box jellyfish, and the name has been applied to specimens reported in oceans worldwide (e.g. Pacific, Indian and Atlantic). In the last decade the species underwent a nomenclatural change being reassigned to the new genus Alatina,[9] but in the absence of a type specimen, i.e., a voucher specimen that represents the originally described species, it has been difficult to confirm which reports actually correspond to the species now known as Alatina alata.[5][10][11]
References
- ^ Reynaud, M. (1830). "La Carybdée (Méduse) Ailée". In Lesson. R.P. (ed.). Centurie Zoologique, ou Choix d'animaux rares, nouveaux ou imparfaitement connus. Bruxelles: Chéz F.G. Levrault. p. 95, Plate 33.
- ^ a b Lawley, J.W.; Ames, C.L.; Bentlage, B.; Yanagihara, A.; Goodwill, R.; Kayal, E.; Hurwitz, K. & Collins, A.G. (2016). "Box Jellyfish Alatina alata Has a Circumtropical Distribution". Biological Bulletin. 231 (2): 152–169. doi:10.1086/690095. PMC 5599302. PMID 27820907.
- ^ Straehler-Pohl, I. & Gul, S. (2017). "Rediscovery and description of the cubomedusa Alatina grandis (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902) (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Alatinidae) from Pakistani waters". Plankton and Benthos Research. 12 (1): 1–14. doi:10.3800/pbr.12.1.
- ^ Morandini, A.C. (2003). "Deep-sea medusae (Cnidaria: Cubozoa, Hydrozoa and Scyphozoa) from the coast of Bahia (western South Atlantic, Brazil)". Mitt. Hamb. Zool. Mus. Inst. 100 (2): 13–25. doi:10.1086/690095. PMC 5599302. PMID 27820907.
- ^ a b Lewis, C.; Bentlage, B.; Yanagihara, A.; Gillan, W.; Blerk, J.V.; Keil, D.P.; Bely, A.E. & Collins, A.G. (2013). "Redescription of Alatina alata (Reynaud, 1830) (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) from Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean". Zootaxa. 3737 (4): 473–487. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3737.4.8. PMC 4900819. PMID 25112765.
- ^ McGraw, Hill (2003). "gastric filament". The Free Dictionary.
- ^ Kazmi, Q. B.; Sultana, R. (1 February 2009). "Carybdea marsupialis (Cnidaria: Cubomedusae)—observed for the first time in Gwadar Bay waters (Arabian Sea)". Marine Biodiversity Records. 1. doi:10.1017/s1755267207008251. ISSN 1755-2672.
- ^ Craig S. Thomas MD; Susan A. Scott RN; BA, Daniel J. Galanis PhD & Ralph S. Goto BA. (2001). "Box jellyfish (Carybdea alata) in Waikiki. The analgesic effect of sting-aid, Adolph's meat tenderizer and fresh water on their stings: a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial" (PDF). Hawaii Medical Journal. 60 (4): 205–207, 210. PMID 11573317.
- ^ Gershwin, Lisa-Ann (2005). "Carybdea alata auct. and Manokia stiasnyi, reclassification to a new family with description of a new genus and two new species". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 51 (2). Brisbane: 501–523. ISSN 0079-8835.
- ^ Carrette, T.; Straehler-Pohl, I. & Seymour, J. (2014). "Early Life History of Alatina cf. moseri Populations from Australia and Hawaii with Implications for Taxonomy (Cubozoa: Carybdeida, Alatinidae)". PLOS ONE. 9 (1): e84377. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...984377C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0084377. PMC 3893091. PMID 24454725.
- ^ Cheryl Lewis Ames; Bastian Bentlage & Allen G. Collins (2014). "Why does taxonomy matter in 2014?". Department of Invertebrate Zoology News – No Bones. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.