Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A commensal relationship between the scyphozoan medusae Catostylus mosaicus and the copepod Paramacrochiron maximum

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The copepod Paramacrochiron maximum was found in high numbers (up to 5,675 copepods/medusa) on the oral arms of the scyphozoan Catostylus mosaicus. This association was considered to be commensalism for the following reasons: P. maximum (Lichomolgidae) was abundant on the medusae (approximately 805 copepods/kg of medusae) and very rare in the water column (approximately 5.99×10-4 copepods/kg of water); copepodites and adults of the symbiont were present on the host; the copepods were on the medusae both day and night, at different times (nine occasions between March 1999 and May 2000) and different locations (Botany Bay and Lake Illawarra, NSW, Australia). Over 40 taxa of plankton were found on the oral arms of C. mosaicus (including protists, cnidarians, polychaetes, molluscs, a wide range of holoplanktonic and meroplanktonic crustaceans, chaetognaths and fish eggs). These taxa were abundant in the water column and we concluded that they were prey. Symbiotic amphipods and carangid fishes were found with medusae. We conclude that there is a symbiotic association between P. maximum and C. mosaicus and care should be taken not to confound these copepods with the prey of C. mosaicus. Poecilostomid copepods are well known for consuming mucus and feeding is likely to be a major reason for the association.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Azila N, Othman I (1990) Haemolytic and phospholipase A activites of the tentacle extract of Catostylus mosaicus. Biochem Int 20:291–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowman TE, Meyers CD, Hicks SD (1963) Notes on associations between hyperiid amphipods and medusae in Chesapeake and Narragansett Bays and the Niantic River. Chesapeake Sci 4:141–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandon M, Cutress CE (1985) A new Dondice (Opisthobranchia:Favorinidae), predator of Cassiopea in southwest Puerto Rico. Bull Mar Sci 36:139–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Browne, JG (1999) Interactions between Catostylus mosaicus and zooplankton. Hons Thesis. University of Sydney, Sydney

  • Bruce AJ (1972) An association between a pontoniinid shrimp and a rhizostomatous scyphozoan. Crustaceana 23:300–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce AJ (1988) Periclimenes tonga sp. nov., a commensal shrimp associated with a scyphozoan host from Tonga (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae). Micronesica 21:23–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Child CA, Harbison GR (1986) A parasitic association between a pycnogonid and a scyphomedusa in midwater. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 66:113–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, KR (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Aust J Ecol 18:117–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman N (1977) A field guide to Australian marine life. Rigby, Adelaide

  • Condon RH, Norman MD (1999) Commensal associations between the hyperiid amphipod, Themisto australis, and the scyphozoan jellyfish, Cyanea capillata. Mar Freshw Behav Physiol 32:261–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahl E (1959) The amphipod, Hyperia galba, an ectoparasite of the jellyfish, Cyanea capillata. Nature 183:1749

    Google Scholar 

  • Dakin, WJ, Colefax AN (1940) The plankton of the Australian coastal waters off New South Wales. Part I. Australian Publishing, Sydney

  • Dussart BH, Defaye D (1995) Copepoda: Introduction to the Copepoda. In: Dumont HJ (ed) Guides to the identification of the microinvertebrates of the continental waters of the world, bk 7. SPB Academic, Amsterdam

  • Gotto RV (1979) The association of copepods with marine invertebrates. Adv Mar Biol 16:1–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayashi K, Miyake S (1968) Three caridean shrimps associated with a medusa from Tanabe Bay, Japan. Publ Seto Mar Biol Lab 16:11–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernkind W, Halusky J, Kanciruk P (1976) A further note on phyllosoma larvae associated with medusae. Bull Mar Sci 26:110–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Heron AC (1973) A specialized predator-prey relationship between the copepod Sapphirina angusta and the pelagic tunicate Thalia democratica. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 53:429–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Humes AG (1970) Paramacrochiron japonicum n. sp., a cyclopoid copepod associated with a medusa in Japan. Publ Seto Mar Biol Lab 18:223–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Humes AG, Stock JH (1973). A revision of the Family Lichomolgidae Kossman, 1877, Cyclopoid Copepods mainly associated with marine invertebrates. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

  • Kasahara S (1962). Studies on the biology of the parasitic copepod Lernaea cyprinacea Linnaeus and the methods for controlling this parasite in fish-culture ponds. Contr Fish Lab Fac Agric, Univ Tokyo 3:103–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsford MJ (1993) Biotic and abiotic structure in the pelagic environment: importance to small fishes. Bull Mar Sci 53:393–415

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsford MJ, Pitt KA, Gillanders BM (2000) Management of jellyfish fisheries, with special reference to the O. Rhizostomeae. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 38:85–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishnaswamy S (1953) Pelagic Copepoda of the Madras Coast. J Madras Univ 23:61–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson RJ (1991) Diet, prey selection and daily ration of Stomolophus meleagris, a filter-feeding scyphomedusa from the NE Gulf of Mexico. Est Coast Shelf Sci. 32: 511-525

  • Laval P (1980) Hyperiid amphipods as crustacean parasitoids associated with gelatinous zooplankton. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 18:11–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazzaretto I, Salvato S, Libertini A (1990) Evidence of chemical signalling in Tigriopus fulvus (Copepoda, Harpacticoida). Crustaceana 59:171–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Maier G (1990) Spatial distribution of resting stages, rate of emergence from diapause and times to adulthood and to the appearance of the first clutch in 3 species of cyclopoid copepods. Hydrobiologia 206:11–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansueti R (1963) Symbiotic behavior between small fishes and jellyfishes, with new data on that between the stromateid, Peprilus alepidotus, and the scyphomedusa, Chrysaora quinquecirrha. Copeia 1:40–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus NH (1996) Ecological and evolutionary significance of resting eggs in marine copepods: past, present, and future studies. Hydrobiologia 320:141–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Metz C, (1998). Feeding of Oncaea curvata (Poecilostomatoida, Copepoda). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 169:229–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills CE (1995) Medusae, siphonophores, and ctenophores as planktivorous predators in changing global ecosystems. ICES J Mar Sci 52:575–581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pagès F (2000) Biological associations between barnacles and jellyfish with emphasis on the ectoparasitism of Alepas pacifica (Lepadomorpha) on Diplulmaris malayensis (Scyphozoa). J Nat Hist 34:2045–2056

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips JP, Burke D, Keener EJ (1969) Observations on the trophic significance of jellyfishes in Mississippi Sound with quantitative data on the associative behaviour of small fishes with medusae. Trans Am Fish Soc 4:703–712

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitt KA, Kingsford MJ (2000) Geographic separation of stocks of the edible jellyfish Catostylus mosaicus (Rhizostomeae) in New South Wales, Australia. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 196:143–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddiah K (1968) Three new species of Paramacrochiron (Lichomolgidae) associated with medusae. Crustaceana [Suppl] 1:193–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddiah K (1969) Pseudomacrochiron stocki N. G., N. SP., a cyclopoid copepod associated with a medusa. Crustaceana 16:43–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanks AL, Graham WM (1988) Chemical defense in a scyphomedusa. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 45:81–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd SA, Thomas IM (eds) (1982) Marine invertebrates of Southern Australia Part I. Woolman, Sydney

  • Svavarsson J (1990) Life cycle and population dynamics of the symbiotic copepod Lichomolgus canui Sars associated with the ascidian Halocynthia pyriformis (Rathke). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 142:1-12

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas LR (1963) Phyllosoma larvae associated with medusae. Nature 198:208

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson IC, Scott A (1903) Report on the copepoda collected by Professor Herdman, at Ceylon, in 1902. Rept Govt Ceylon Pearl Oyster Fish Gulf of Manaar, Suppl Repts 7:227–307

  • Tinson S, Laybourn-Parry J (1986) The distribution and abundance of benthic cyclopoid copepods in Esthwaite Water, Cumbria. Hydrobiologia 131:225–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Underwood AJ (1997) Experiments in ecology, their logical design and interpretation using analysis of variance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Download references

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Yoshi Kobayashi and Geoff Boxshall for their help in identifying Paramacrochiron maximum. Constructive comments were provided by D. McKinnon, T. Dempster and K. Pitt. Thanks to K. Pitt for recent data and the many volunteers (G. Browne, S. Bush, T. Douglass, J. Hughes, L. Leonard and M. Liddlelow) for their assistance in the field. This study was supported by an Australian Research Council grant to M.J.K.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Zoology Building, A08, 2006, NSW, Australia

    J. G. Browne

  2. School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture, James Cook University, 4811, Townsville, QLD, Australia

    M. J. Kingsford

Authors
  1. J. G. Browne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. J. Kingsford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. J. Kingsford.

Additional information

Communicated by G.F. Humphrey, Sydney

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Browne, J.G., Kingsford, M.J. A commensal relationship between the scyphozoan medusae Catostylus mosaicus and the copepod Paramacrochiron maximum. Marine Biology 146, 1157–1168 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1517-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-004-1517-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation