User:Jtholt510/sandbox

Summary
This article provides a general overview of the Box Jellyfish. It begins by giving the reader some background information regarding some apparent features that most species share as well as some interesting, but relevant information regarding the potential dangers that these organisms pose to their prey and humans alike. Following this introduction, the article includes a section on "Taxonomy and Systematics". This section provides a bullet point list of the different Orders and Families associated with this organism. This list is accompanied by numerous links to other articles about said Orders and Families. Next is a section that serves as a detailed description of the organism which includes information on its physical structure (both external and internal) and comparisons to other types of jellyfish. These comparisons further serve as a way to outline the distinguishing features of this organism. In a separate section titled: "Distribution", the article goes on to briefly state information about the regions where different species of this organism can be found. A short summary of organism behavior and age determining processes are also given. The final sections of this article pertain to how the species of box jellyfish can be a potential threat to humans as well as how to go about remedying any harmful contacts.

Relevant Information Evaluation

The majority of information in this article is relevant to the topic. It provides a good number (45) of sources as well as links to other pages for more information. There was not any information that came across as distracting. The information included in the article is clear an concise. It provides the reader with an easy-to-follow construction of information without getting too wordy or using too much scientific jargon that may not be easily understood to everyone reading the article.

Up-to-Date Information Evaluation
The information on this topic is very up-to-date. The "oldest" source included in this article was written in 1982, but the majority of the sources are less than 20 years old.

Possible Improvements
Though all of the sources are relevant to the topic, there might be room for improvement in regards to the quality of sources. Some of the information cited within the article is pulled from News stories and "fact pages"--reliability and possible bias can be questioned. The article does have plenty of links to other pages to provide the reader with more information, however, the different sections seemed to be unbalanced in terms of the amount of information written. For example, the "Behavior" and "Age and Growth" sections appear to be deficient relevant to the other sections within the article.

Possible Article Subjects
Bathycrinus - Ok to use.

Chiropsella - I don't know what this is. Is it spelled correctly? I can't find it.

Acutichiton - Extinct genera are ok, but use caution, and make absolutely sure you have enough sources before you begin.

Topic:
Chiropsella (A genus within the Cubozoans)

Practice Citation:
Despite some species of cubozoans being too large in medusae diameter for adequate locomotion needed of the predatory style of which they hunt for food, some taxa, including a species within Chriopsella may possess a special muscular structure to aid in jet-like propulsion that allows them to move much more efficiently in their search for prey.

Draft of Article: Chiropsella (Week 6 Assignment) (See Edited, Final Draft Below)
Final Draft is shown below and is the edited version of the rough draft. No review comments were posted in my sandbox regarding the rough draft.

= Chiropsella =

Chiropsella are a relatively newly described genus of box jellyfish (class Cubozoa) and are a product of fairly recent re-investigation of the family Chiropsalmidae. They are described as a genus of small Cubozoans with four described species (C. bart, C. bronzie, C. rudloei, C. saxoni). Their range is somewhat limited, but are abundant at all times of the year depending on the species.

Description
Like other Cubozoans, they possess a bell that resembles a box-like structure. Species within Chiropsella have four pedalium at each of the bottom corners of the bell. This is distinctive characteristic of its order Chirodropida. It is here that the tentacles extend from. The amount of tentacles extending from each pedalium varies between species but ranges from 3 to about 9. Among other common characteristics that Chiropsella shares with other Cubozoans, there are a few things that distinguish it from other genera within its family (Chiropsalmidae) as well as its order (Chirodropida). Chiropsella are described as not having stinging cells, or nematocysts, on the top of its bell--something that other genera often have. The overall size of Chiropsella is small relative to other taxa within the Chirodropida order. It is reported that the maximum size of Chiropsella species is about 5 cm. in body height.

Behavior and Movement Capability
Chiropsella, like other Cubozoans, are predatory in nature. They are able to live this type of lifestyle due to specialized morphological features including the fully developed set of eyes, or rhopalia, and a velarium that enables them to propel themselves through the water efficiently in their pursuit of prey. These two features combined allow them to be active hunters, but also allow them to avoid predation more effectively and efficiently than those without these capabilities.

Eyes
Box jellyfish have highly advanced eyes relative to other cnidarians. Chiropsella, like all Cubozoans, possess many different eye-like sensory structures, called rhopalia, that consist of four different types. Twenty-four different eyes are found in Cubozoans with two of the types being defined as having a pit- or slit-like structure and are responsible for bringing pigment into the sensory system. The other two types of eyes are used for light focusing and spatial determinations and resemble an eye structure with a lens that is characteristic of an advanced eye.

There is common skepticism surrounding the differences in specific eye structure and functionality of different species of Cubozoans. Some species are even thought to be blind to red-colored wavelengths of light Other species are more attracted to different wavelengths of light with "blue light" most commonly activating a feeding-type of behavior. Nonetheless, differing wavelengths of light play a role in bringing in information to the sensory systems that allow an individual to execute conscious movements

Jet-Propulsion
Chiropsella propel themselves through the water using a velarium. This highly flexible, modified lip of their bell acts a muscle to bring in water which is then pushed out by the contraction of the velarium. The result is the organisms having control of their movement rather than drifting through the water column. With the use of their eyes, they can even exhibit "structure" avoidance by contracting different areas of their velarium, as seen in some other taxa of box jellyfish

Range and Habitat
Chiropsella, like most box jellyfish, live in shallow coastal waters and are commonly referred to as "beach-dwellers". This is due to their predatory hunting style and also contributes to the danger that most box jellyfish pose on human populations. Geographic range of Chiropsella species has been inconsistently determined as some species from a separate genus were misidentified prior to Gershwin's (et al.) revision of the taxa involved. Now, it is known that two common species (C. bart and C. bronzie) are found in Southwest Pacific waters near the coast of Australia. Another species has also been described that extends the geographic range of Chiropsella to the West Indian ocean. Specifically, this species, C. rudloei, is found near the coast of Madagascar.

Movement of species withing Chiropsella may be due to physical processes that have not yet been determined, but have been hypothesized about. For example, C. saxoni is commonly found of the Northwest coast of Australia, but has seen migratory movements southward. Mechanisms for this transport are still debated, but one possible cause for this movement is wind blowing individuals that reside in shallow water towards the Southeastern coastal waters.

Feeding
As stated before, Chiropsella and other box jellyfish are active hunters which is a distinguishing characteristic that separates them from other taxa of Cnidarians. They mainly feed on small bait fish and small zooplankton. Not much else is known about the specific feeding behaviors or what makes up their diet other than the described behaviors common to Cubozoans in general.

Venom
Venom is used by Chiropsella when hunting prey and for self-defense. That being said, it has been found that their venom is not as strong as most box jellyfish venom, making them one of the less dangerous taxa to humans. However, their prey are very severely affected by the venom allowing Chiropsella to be very efficient hunters. The effectiveness of their venom stems from its ability to quickly contract blood pathways and thus, cutting off circulation of oxygen to the brain of smaller prey species.

Evolutionary Importance
Cubozoans in general provide an interesting look into evolutionary history. Specifically, Chiropsella give researchers insight into the evolutionary processes that ultimately led to the development of color vision as their "complex" eyes are a distinguishing characteristic of their phylogeny. As stated before, Chiropsella have been found to respond to different wavelengths, or "colors", of light as well as altering their behavior based on different intensities (or brightness) of light. Because they have the four different types of eyes, or rhopalia, they are able to specialize their eye structures to determine movement of prey, presence of obstacles and times for efficient hunting, all based on levels of available light. However, because they reside in shallow water, light intensity can be highly variable from "flickering" caused by surface action. This is thought to be the source of their evolutionary adaptation of an early version of color vision. It has been researched that color vision releases an organism from some of the confusion and disorientation that could stem from an environment characterized by fluctuating light levels.