First records of three cepheid jellyfish species from Sri Lanka with redescription of the genus <em>Marivagia</em> Galil and Gershwin, 2010 (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa: Rhizostomeae: Cepheidae)

Abstract

Cepheid medusae appeared in great numbers in the northeastern coastal waters of Sri Lanka during the nonmonsoon period (March to October) posing adverse threats to fisheries and coastal tourism, but the taxonomic status of these jellyfishes was unknown. Therefore, an inclusive study on jellyfish was carried out from November 2016 to July 2019 for taxonomic identification of the species found in coastal waters. In this study, three species of cepheid mild stingers, Cephea cephea, Marivagia stellata, and Netrostoma setouchianum were reported for the first time in Sri Lankan waters. Moreover, the diagnostic description of the genus Marivagia is revised in this study due to the possessing of appendages on both oral arms and arm disc of Sri Lankan specimens, comparing with original notes and photographs of M. stellata.

First jellyfish records for Qatar and further notes on Scyphomedusae species from the Arabian Gulf (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa)

“…Although the original description (Galil et al ., 2010) mentions that appendages were absent on the oral arms and oral disc of the species, several images from specimens collected elsewhere do show such features, as already mentioned in Karunarathne & de Croos (2020). In our observations, the specimens indeed do present small appendages (spindle-shaped) all over the arms surfaces and also longer filament-like appendages at the centre of the oral disc between the arms.…”

“…Although described for the Mediterranean coast of Israel, the species Marivagia stellata was considered alien to that region based on the argument that the region was well studied and that a 'large native littoral species' would not be overlooked (Galil et al, 2010). In fact, the reasoning of the original authors seems justified based on the finding of M. stellata in several other places, mostly in the Indian Ocean (Galil et al, 2013;Gul et al, 2014;Karunarathne & de Croos, 2020) and a few reports also in the Mediterranean (Mamish et al, 2016;Bitar & Badreddine, 2019). Similar to the genus Chrysaora, Baniasadi et al (2019) reported specimens of Marivagia stellata for the Iran coast (Khuzestan and Hormozgan), thus this is the first record for Qatar.…”