Photograph courtesy Lisa-ann Gershwin, courtesy Zootaxa/Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
Published May 6, 2010
Sporting a reproductive "skyline," a new species of jellyfish is like nothing else known under the sea, a new study says.
Shaped like flying saucers, both males and females of the new jellyfish have gonads on the outsides of their bodies, unlike any of the approximately 3,000 other jellyfish species known to science.
Gonads are the reproductive glands that produce sperm in males and eggs in females.
Arranged in a "crater" at the center of the jellyfish's top side, the gonads, upon close inspection, resemble "skyscrapers in a downtown business district," said Lisa-Ann Gershwin, curator of zoology at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, Australia.
Accordingly, Gershwin gave the jellyfish the species name "medeopolis," Latin for "city of gonads."
"It's just so completely different from anything we've ever seen before," Gershwin said—in fact, the jellyfish has forced the creation of a whole new family and genus, Csiromedusidae and Csiromedusa, respectively.
Both names honor the Australian government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), which assisted the scientists with their research.
(Related: "New Jellyfish Species Found.")
"City of Gonads" Stumps Scientist
Gershwin and colleagues discovered the city-of-gonads jellyfish eight years ago in a part-seawater river in the city of Hobart (map) on the Australian island of Tasmania. It took until now, though, for the scientists to verify that Csiromedusa medeopolis represents a new family.
(Also see "Blue Jellyfish Invade Australia Beaches.")
Harmless to humans, the new jellyfish species measures just 1.5 to 2 millimeters (0.06 to 0.08 inch) across—"not the smallest ever known, but it would be pretty close," Gershwin said.
About 90 percent of jellyfish species are smaller than an inch (2.5 centimeters), but fewer than 0.5 percent of jellyfish are measured in millimeters.
Making the Csiromedusa medeopolis discovery was "like a day at Disneyland for a scientist," said Gershwin, who's named more than 160 new jellyfish species, including a "rainbow glow" jelly (picture).
Despite all that experience, she's at a loss to explain what good external gonads would be for a jellyfish.
"I've thought about this for so long—I have no idea," Gershwin said. "There may be some functional reason, but I can't see what it is."
The city-of-gonads jellyfish study is published online this week in the journal Zootaxa.
More Jellyfish Coverage
Most Popular News
-
Best News Pictures of the Year?
See the painterly picture that won this year's World Press Photo Contest—plus a cliff-climbing polar bear, a record-breaking cave, and more.
-
Photos: Tiny Chameleons Discovered
Four new chameleon species found in Madagascar—some tiny enough to fit on a match tip—are among the smallest known reptiles.
-
Pictures: Shark Swallows Shark
Divers on Australia's Great Barrier Reef recently snapped rare pictures of a wobbegong, or carpet shark, swallowing a bamboo shark whole.
Advertisement
News Blogs
-
Snuffbox and Rayed Bean Mussels Protected
Two freshwater mussels are added to the endangered species list.
-
Humanity’s Growing Impact on the World’s Freshwater
The finiteness of Earth's freshwater is becoming ever more apparent.
-
Auroras, Meteors Shine in New Time-Lapse
Colorful auroras, meteor trains, and brilliant stars glide across the skies over the U.S. West in the new video "Temporal Distortion."
ScienceBlogs Picks
Connect With Nat Geo
Got Something to Share?
Special Ad Section
Great Energy Challenge Blog
Green Living Hot Topics
-
Organic Air Fresheners
Avoid toxic chemicals and create a calming space.
-
Surprising Recyclable Household Items
With a little know-how, you can recycle more than you think.
-
Side Effects of Vegetarianism
Find out how to stay healthy and eat lower on the food chain.
