- Bumpy
:"For the Hawaiian nationalist leader, see
Bumpy Kanahele . Or seebump ."Taxobox
name = Bumpy
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Cnidaria
classis = Scyphozoa
ordo =Scyphomedusae
familia =Ulmaridae
genus = "Stellamedusa"
species = "S. ventana"
binomial = "Stellamedusa ventana"
binomial_authority = Raskoff & Matsumoto, 2004Bumpy is a species of
jellyfish , "Stellamedusa ventana".The species was first described in the "Journal of the Marine Biological Association" in
2004 by Kevin Raskoff and George Matsumoto of theMonterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute . As of February2004 , seven specimens have been observed, five off theCalifornia coast inMonterey Bay and two in theGulf of California . Unlike most medusae, they lack marginal tentacles. Specimens so far found reach almost 10cm in diameter, which is large for a scyphomedusa. The bell is blue-white in colour. The exumbrella is white, and this and the four oral arms are covered with large nematocyst-laden projections filled with stinging cells, enabling the jelly to capture food items of a variety of sizes; it seems to prefer large prey, up to half its size, which is unusual in jellies that capture prey with their bells rather than with tentacles. The bumpy appearance that the stinging cells give to the jelly led to its common name. The species name comes from the remotely operated vehicle (ROV ) "Ventana", a deep-divingrobot submarine that first recorded the jelly on video in1990 ."Stellamedusa ventana" has so far been observed only at mesopelagic depths, i.e. between 150 and 550 meters. At these depths, sunlight does not penetrate, but there is still a reasonable amount of oxygen. Many species of jellyfishes live at this level, and it is likely that "S. ventana" feeds primarily on other jellies. Another large jellyfish discovered by the same researchers is Big Red.
References
*K. A. Raskoff and G. I. Matsumoto (2004). "Stellamedusa ventana", a new mesopelagic scyphomedusae from the eastern Pacific representing a new subfamily, the Stellamedusinae. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 84, 4274/1-6.
External links
* [http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2004/stellamedusa.html MBARI press release about the discovery of "S. ventana"]
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