Chirodropus gorilla
| Chirodropus gorilla | ||||||||||||
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Chirodropus gorilla |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Chirodropus gorilla | ||||||||||||
| E. Haeckel , 1880 |
Chirodropus gorilla is a type of box jellyfish (Cubozoa) from the family of Chirodropidae . It occurs in the South Atlantic.
features
The shade measures about 12 cm in diameter and is about 15 cm high. It is bell-shaped to hemispherical with little pronounced edges and curved sides. The velarium hangs down from the edge of the screen. Eight flat longitudinal furrows emanate from the apex, dividing the screen into eight bulge-like fields, four perradial somewhat wider side bulges and four somewhat narrower edge bulges. The manubrium (mouthpipe) is approximately pyramidal and about as long as the gastric space. At the four corners, hand-shaped, asymmetrical pedals that are just under 2.5 cm long are advertised. Nine long, thin finger-like tentacles are attached to each pedal, making a total of 36 tentacles. The "fingers" alternate irregularly and decrease in length from top to bottom. 16 gelatinous lobes are attached under the peripheral nerve ring, which is about halfway up the screen. They are connected to one another with and through the velarium. They are alternately a little shorter and longer. The longer lobes are 15 mm wide and 25 mm long. They are basically side wings of the perradial screen edges. They enclose the frenulum, which extends from the sensory niche to the edge of the velarium. The eight somewhat shorter interradial side lobes (22 mm wide, 20 mm long) basically represent side wings of the four interradial pedals. These insert 45 mm above the velarium rim. The flaps contain diverticula of the perradial gastric pockets, from which very strongly branched velarial canals originate. The stomach is relatively large and spherical. The liver glands open onto the four slightly protruding perradial edges. The four gastric pockets hang from the subumbrella. The four pairs of gonads attach to the subumbrella and are shaped like grape-like swellings.
The four perradial sensory niches are relatively deep and heart-shaped. They sit on the sides of the bell and about 60 mm above the edge of the velarium. In the pits, the club-shaped ropes sit on slender stems.
Geographical occurrence and way of life
The holotype was caught off the coast of the historical landscape of " Loango " (today about Cabinda ), about 5 ° south latitude. Catches from Moanda ( Gabon ), Liberia and South Africa were added later. Almost nothing is known about the way of life.
Systematics
Chirodropus gorilla is the type of the genus Chirodropus Haeckel, 1880, to which Chirodropus palmatus Haeckel, 1880 is also added. Ernst Haeckel wrote about the choice of the somewhat idiosyncratic epithet: "Since this strange four-handed Medusa is native to the coast of Lower Guinea, the home of the gorilla, I name it in honor of this highly developed anthropomorph."
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kramp, p. 308
literature
- Ernst Haeckel: The Medusa system. 672 p., 40 plates, Verlag Gustav Fischer, Jena 1880.
- Paul Lassenius Kramp: Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association, 40: 1-469, Plymouth 1961 doi : 10.1017 / S0025315400007347