Are you ready for this jelly? It’s a new species
Creature discovered in Monterey Bay has ‘interesting spikes’ among its singularities.
Researchers in Monterey Bay have discovered a new species of deep-sea jelly that looks a little different from others that f loat through the ocean’s depths.
Dubbed Atolla reynoldsi, the scarlet crown jelly was first found 15 years ago by scientists at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute as it swam more than 4,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. Now, the institute has published the scientific description of the species of Atolla in the journal Animals.
Scientists prefer the terms “jelly” or “medusa” over “jellyfish,” because the creatures are not fish.
Among the telltale traits of A. reynoldsi: the lack of the trailing tentacle for which the Atolla jelly is known. The elongated tentacle can stretch up to six times the diameter of the animal’s bell — a feature researchers believe aids in capturing prey.
“When we started seeing this, it caught our attention,” said George Matsumoto, a senior education and research specialist at the institute.
“It also has these really interesting spikes on it, or papillae,” he noted. “It looks sort of like the spokes on a bicycle wheel.”
The tentacles are coiled like springs, he said, unusual compared to the flowing tentacles other Atolla jelly have. Matsumoto, first author on the description of this new species, said it’s not clear why the tentacles are curled. In distantly related jellies, the creatures use them like springs that pop out when they contact prey.
“Everything brings up more questions,” he said with a laugh.
Tentacle numbers vary from one creature to the next, and A. reynoldsi can have anywhere from 26 to 39.
The Atolla crown jelly lives in oceans around the globe and can be abundant in deep water, according to the research institute. They live in the midnight zone, a part of the ocean so deep that it can’t be penetrated by sunlight.
The researchers named their discovery for Jeff Reynolds, the first volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the research institute’s education and conservation partner. Matsumoto, who works as a volunteer diver at the aquarium, said he had the idea to name the species in honor of the many people who have donated their time to help with ocean conservation efforts.
So far, researchers have found the new species only off Monterey Bay. But Matsumoto believes the jelly isn’t unique to the area.
The institute’s archive of more than 27,600 hours of video contains thousands of observations of Atolla. Scientists recognize 10 species in the genus, but Matsumoto and his co-authors think two more previously unknown species of Atolla live in the depths of Monterey Bay.
Researchers have not given the other two jellies names because they don’t have enough specimens to reach that stage in their research, Matsumoto said.
The other two are about the same size and also lack the trailing tentacles. One of the undescribed species has similar bumps but lacks the bicycle-spoke structure, he said. One type appears to be white rather than reddish, but the researchers, who have seen only three so far, can’t tell whether it’s because those particular jellies “are not doing well or if they don’t have the scarlet color,” Matsumoto said.
The latest paper, he said, serves as a plea to his peers around the world to “keep an eye out for these other two and collect if you see them.
“The ocean is full of species that are yet to be described by science,” he added.
Crown jellies have often been collected in nets or viewed by people in submersibles or remotely through video, he said, but researchers “haven’t really worked on them very much.
“One of our hopes is that this makes people take a step back. Even for these animals we think are common, we don’t know much,” he said. “We need to find out what they eat. Who eats them? What is their place in the ecosystem?”
A. reynoldsi is larger than other species of Atolla. The biggest specimen researchers collected was 5.1 inches in diameter, among the largest seen in the genus.
Like other deep-sea crown jellies, the new species has a furrowed bell with a deep groove separating the dome from the wide margin with thick segments, known as pedalia. The edge of the bell resembles a coronet, the inspiration for its regal name.
A. reynoldsi has a distinct stomach that is shaped like a Greek cross, whereas most crown jellies have a clover-shaped gut. The new species is also a little more elongated, Matsumoto said.
“The ocean is the world’s largest habitat,” he noted. “We need to know more about it.”