User:Mglovins/sandbox

Summary

Chiropsella bronzie is a type of box jellyfish that has a medusae form with a box-like bell with four corners, that all box jellyfish have. The adult bell is small and rounded and ranges from ranges from 3 to 5 cm in diameter, not exceeding 8 cm high and wide.

Each corner of the medusae holds up to 9 tentacles on each stalk/pedalium. The venom contained in C. brownie’s cnidocytes is much less potent than other cubozoans and has shown to be harmless to humans with no past evidence of a lethal sting (Gershwin 2006). Box jellyfish tend to move much faster than other jellyfish, with chiropsella bronzie having a maximum speed of 7-8 cm per second against a 1 cm per second current.

Chiropsella bronzie and other box jellyfish also have very developed eye and sensory structures, containing 24 eyes or 4 morphologically different types on rhopalia (sensory structures). Two of these eyes are camera type eyes, which consist of one upper lens and one lower lens eyes, and two pigment slit eyes. However, similar to T. cystophora, Chriposella bronzie have shown to have weaker eyes than other cubazoa species due to weaker lenses to focus on images on the retina T. cystophora where the lenses are too weak to focus a sharp image on the retina. This is most likely due to eyes being ellipsoid in shape and very soft, unlike the spherical shape of other common cubozoa that contain more relative power. The complexity of box jellyfish eyes allows for more advanced swimming and navigational behavior, such as obstacle avoidance and directional swimming. This variation in box jellyfish is expected due to the wide range of habitat cubozoa occupy. This includes from sandy beaches, mangroves, kelp forests, the open ocean, and coal reefs.

This advanced sensory and visual systems allows cubozoans, like Chiropsella bronzie, to succeed in obstacle avoidance, such as mangroves. However, research suggests that C. bronzie are most likely color blind, a factor that does not inhibit obstacle avoidance.

-manubrium -size/length

-nervous system -probably include with eyes, rhopalium?

-in clusters called rhopalia - located in pockets halfway up the outer, flat surfaces of the bell.

Distribution and habitat/range

Cubozoan distribution is mainly restricted to Indo-Pacific regions, with C. bronzie specifically located in shallow waters near Queensland, Australia, specifically from Cooktown to Townsville Australia. These beach habitats contain mangrove trees, sandy beaches, and coral reefs. After heavy rainfalls, C. bronzie habitats include sunken natural debris, such as branches and large rocks, that jellyfish need to navigate.

Description/anatomy and appearance

Ecology

-age and growth/life cycle

-Additionally, the habitat of the polyps is unknown (Gordon et al. 2004), suggests additional habitats to beaches such as mangroves

-behavior

-hunt using complex eyes rather than float like true jellyfish

-prey: -where they feed on shrimps (Acetes australis)

Taxonomy

Classification:

Biota Animalia (Kingdom) Cnidaria (Phylum) Cubozoa (Class) Chirodropida (Order) Chiropsellidae (Family) Chiropsella (Genus) Chiropsella bronzie (Species)

-environment: marine

-species named after bronze medallion given by Surf Life Saving (Gershwin, 2006)

Sting/toxicity

-no evidence that it can deliver a lethal sting  (Gershwin)

-but...