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Stellamedusa ventana, a new mesopelagic scyphomedusa from the eastern Pacific representing a new subfamily, the Stellamedusinae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2004

K.A. Raskoff
Affiliation:
Division of Science and Environmental Policy, California State University, Monterey Bay 100 Campus Center, Seaside, CA 93955-8001, USA
G.I. Matsumoto
Affiliation:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039-9644, USA
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Abstract

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This paper describes a new species, genus, and subfamily within the Scyphomedusae. Stellamedusa ventana is a relatively large scyphomedusa that reaches up to 9·4 cm in diameter. The medusa is rare, with only seven observations in over a decade of extensive surveys of the Monterey Bay and Sea of Cortez using remotely operated vehicles. Stellamedusa ventana continues the trend found in several other deep-sea semaeostome medusae in lacking marginal tentacles. The exumbrella and oral arms are covered with large nematocyst laden projections which are able to capture food items of various sizes in the laboratory. A large cydippid ctenophore was found in the gut of one captured specimen.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom