Resumen de First Record of Box Jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora Conant, 1897 (Cubozoa: Tripedaliidae) from India
Abdul Riyas, Appukuttannair Biju Kumar
This study reports the occurrence of box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora from the brackish water of Kerala, India for the first time. The other reports of this species were from Jamaica, the Philippines, Ecuador, Japan, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Indonesia, Florida, Thailand, Grand Bahama, Seychelles, Comoros, Australia, Hawaii and the Gulf of Mexico. The present study collected four specimens (two each of male and unidentifiable sex) and preserved them in ethanol. The specimens were identified based on their morphological characteristics and the microscopic examination of different types of nematocysts present in their tentacles. Tripedalia cystophora can be easily distinguished from other smaller box jellyfish by the following characteristic features: flattened three pedalia in the four corners of the bell margin, each with single tentacle, numerous nematocysts scattered around the concentric rings in the tentacles, and four prominent frown- shaped rhopalial niches.
