The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast
The clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. is a small hydromedusa species known historically from the Swedish west coast but not reported in recent times. This species is thought to be native to the northwest Pacific where it is notorious for causing severe stings in humans and is considered invasive or...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1bfdec1d01b947958f51104fad6dc8ca 2024-01-07T09:45:26+01:00 The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast Annette F. Govindarajan Björn Källström Erik Selander Carina Östman Thomas G. Dahlgren 2019-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6883 https://doaj.org/article/1bfdec1d01b947958f51104fad6dc8ca EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/6883.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/6883/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.6883 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/1bfdec1d01b947958f51104fad6dc8ca PeerJ, Vol 7, p e6883 (2019) Sea grass Zostera Taxonomy Biogeography Climate change Burn Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6883 2023-12-10T01:53:53Z The clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. is a small hydromedusa species known historically from the Swedish west coast but not reported in recent times. This species is thought to be native to the northwest Pacific where it is notorious for causing severe stings in humans and is considered invasive or cryptogenic elsewhere. This year, unlike in the past, severe stings in swimmers making contact with Gonionemus sp. medusae occurred in Swedish waters from a sheltered eelgrass bed in the inner Skagerrak archipelago. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the second sting record of Gonionemus sp. from the Northeast Atlantic—with the first record occurring off the Belgian coast in the 1970s. Stinging Gonionemus sp. medusae have also been recently reported from the northwestern Atlantic coast, where, like on the Swedish coast, stings were not reported in the past. We analyzed sea surface temperature data from the past 30 years and show that 2018 had an exceptionally cold spring followed by an exceptionally hot summer. It is suggested that the 2018 temperature anomalies contributed to the Swedish outbreak. An analysis of mitochondrial COI sequences showed that Swedish medusae belong to the same clade as those from toxic populations in the Sea of Japan and northwest Atlantic. Gonionemus sp. is particularly prone to human-mediated dispersal and we suggest that it is possible that this year’s outbreak is the result of anthropogenic factors either through a climate-driven northward range shift or an introduction via shipping activity. We examined medusa growth rates and details of medusa morphology including nematocysts. Two types of penetrating nematocysts: euryteles and b-mastigophores were observed, suggesting that Gonionemus sp. medusae are able to feed on hard-bodied organisms like copepods and cladocerans. Given the now-regular occurrence and regional spread of Gonionemus sp. in the northwest Atlantic, it seems likely that outbreaks in Sweden will continue. More information on its life cycle, dispersal mechanisms, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Northwest Atlantic Copepods Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Medusa ENVELOPE(157.417,157.417,-79.633,-79.633) Pacific PeerJ 7 e6883 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Sea grass Zostera Taxonomy Biogeography Climate change Burn Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Sea grass Zostera Taxonomy Biogeography Climate change Burn Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Annette F. Govindarajan Björn Källström Erik Selander Carina Östman Thomas G. Dahlgren The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
topic_facet |
Sea grass Zostera Taxonomy Biogeography Climate change Burn Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
The clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. is a small hydromedusa species known historically from the Swedish west coast but not reported in recent times. This species is thought to be native to the northwest Pacific where it is notorious for causing severe stings in humans and is considered invasive or cryptogenic elsewhere. This year, unlike in the past, severe stings in swimmers making contact with Gonionemus sp. medusae occurred in Swedish waters from a sheltered eelgrass bed in the inner Skagerrak archipelago. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the second sting record of Gonionemus sp. from the Northeast Atlantic—with the first record occurring off the Belgian coast in the 1970s. Stinging Gonionemus sp. medusae have also been recently reported from the northwestern Atlantic coast, where, like on the Swedish coast, stings were not reported in the past. We analyzed sea surface temperature data from the past 30 years and show that 2018 had an exceptionally cold spring followed by an exceptionally hot summer. It is suggested that the 2018 temperature anomalies contributed to the Swedish outbreak. An analysis of mitochondrial COI sequences showed that Swedish medusae belong to the same clade as those from toxic populations in the Sea of Japan and northwest Atlantic. Gonionemus sp. is particularly prone to human-mediated dispersal and we suggest that it is possible that this year’s outbreak is the result of anthropogenic factors either through a climate-driven northward range shift or an introduction via shipping activity. We examined medusa growth rates and details of medusa morphology including nematocysts. Two types of penetrating nematocysts: euryteles and b-mastigophores were observed, suggesting that Gonionemus sp. medusae are able to feed on hard-bodied organisms like copepods and cladocerans. Given the now-regular occurrence and regional spread of Gonionemus sp. in the northwest Atlantic, it seems likely that outbreaks in Sweden will continue. More information on its life cycle, dispersal mechanisms, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Annette F. Govindarajan Björn Källström Erik Selander Carina Östman Thomas G. Dahlgren |
author_facet |
Annette F. Govindarajan Björn Källström Erik Selander Carina Östman Thomas G. Dahlgren |
author_sort |
Annette F. Govindarajan |
title |
The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
title_short |
The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
title_full |
The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
title_fullStr |
The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
title_full_unstemmed |
The highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish Gonionemus sp. (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) on the Swedish west coast |
title_sort |
highly toxic and cryptogenic clinging jellyfish gonionemus sp. (hydrozoa, limnomedusae) on the swedish west coast |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6883 https://doaj.org/article/1bfdec1d01b947958f51104fad6dc8ca |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(157.417,157.417,-79.633,-79.633) |
geographic |
Medusa Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Medusa Pacific |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic Northwest Atlantic Copepods |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic Northwest Atlantic Copepods |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 7, p e6883 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/6883.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/6883/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.6883 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/1bfdec1d01b947958f51104fad6dc8ca |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6883 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
7 |
container_start_page |
e6883 |
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1787426968624431104 |