Scholarlink

<p>The mesopelagic realm is one of the largest and least explored ecosystems on Earth, hosting a remarkable yet still underestimated biodiversity. Advances in deep-sea exploration, particularly through subsea exploration tools, have significantly enhanced our ability to document fragile and elusive organisms, such as gelatinous zooplankton. Among these, however, coronate jellyfish (Scyphozoa, Coronatae) remain a poorly studied taxonomic group, with relatively few records from the Mediterranean Sea to date. In this study, we report in situ observations of coronate jellyfish from deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea, based on ROV video surveys conducted during three oceanographic cruises off Ionian Calabria and western Sardinia. A total of 13 coronate jellyfish were detected at depths ranging from 787 to 1003&#xa0;m. Based on morphological patterns, we were able to assign ten specimens to <i>Paraphyllina</i> cf. <i>ransoni</i>. Three additional specimens, found off Sardinia, were conservatively assigned to Coronatae sp. due to the lack of clearly visible diagnostic traits. The majority of jellyfish were observed swimming a few centimetres above the bottom and we documented their swimming behaviour, posture, and the habitat of occurrence. Our study complements previous submersible-based records and provides high-quality documentation from the eastern Mediterranean, extending the known distribution of coronate jellyfish within the basin while highlighting the contribution of ROV-based imaging to the documentation of deep-sea gelatinous fauna and underscoring the need for shared methods to enhance our understanding and assessment of deep-sea biodiversity.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Expanding knowledge of deep-sea coronatae medusae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) in the Mediterranean through ROV-based in situ documentation

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月2日

查看全文
  • Frine Cardone,
  • Antonio Giova,
  • Simonepietro Canese,
  • Valentina Costa,
  • Martina Genovese,
  • Teresa Romeo,
  • Eva Salvati,
  • Francesco Stenico,
  • Silvestro Greco

摘要

The mesopelagic realm is one of the largest and least explored ecosystems on Earth, hosting a remarkable yet still underestimated biodiversity. Advances in deep-sea exploration, particularly through subsea exploration tools, have significantly enhanced our ability to document fragile and elusive organisms, such as gelatinous zooplankton. Among these, however, coronate jellyfish (Scyphozoa, Coronatae) remain a poorly studied taxonomic group, with relatively few records from the Mediterranean Sea to date. In this study, we report in situ observations of coronate jellyfish from deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea, based on ROV video surveys conducted during three oceanographic cruises off Ionian Calabria and western Sardinia. A total of 13 coronate jellyfish were detected at depths ranging from 787 to 1003 m. Based on morphological patterns, we were able to assign ten specimens to Paraphyllina cf. ransoni. Three additional specimens, found off Sardinia, were conservatively assigned to Coronatae sp. due to the lack of clearly visible diagnostic traits. The majority of jellyfish were observed swimming a few centimetres above the bottom and we documented their swimming behaviour, posture, and the habitat of occurrence. Our study complements previous submersible-based records and provides high-quality documentation from the eastern Mediterranean, extending the known distribution of coronate jellyfish within the basin while highlighting the contribution of ROV-based imaging to the documentation of deep-sea gelatinous fauna and underscoring the need for shared methods to enhance our understanding and assessment of deep-sea biodiversity.