Pelagia noctiluca

"Mauve stinger" redirects here. For the Californian species occasionally known by that name but usually called the purple-striped jelly, see Chrysaora colorata.

Pelagia noctiluca
Mediterranean individuals from Sardinia (above) and Corsica (below)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Semaeostomeae
Family: Pelagiidae
Genus: Pelagia
Péron & Lesueur, 1810
Species:
P. noctiluca
Binomial name
Pelagia noctiluca
(Forsskål, 1775)[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Medusa noctiluca Forsskål, 1775[2]
  • Pelagia neglecta Vanhöffen, 1888
  • Pelagia parthenopensis Lesson, 1843
  • Pelagia perla (Slabber, 1781)
  • Pelagia purpuroviolacea Stiasny, 1914
  • Pelagia rosacea Stiasny, 1914

Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia.[1] It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger,[3][4] but other common names are purple-striped jelly (causing potential confusion with Chrysaora colorata),[5] purple stinger, purple people eater,[6] purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish.[7] In Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea";[8] in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night"", and lux, "light";[9] thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate seas,[3][4] although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico,[10] represent closely related but currently unrecognized species.[11]

A fairly small and variably coloured species, both its tentacles and (unusual among jellyfish) bell are covered in stinging cells.[3][12] Stinging incidents are common, painful and the symptoms may continue for a considerable time after the encounter, but they are generally not dangerous.[3] When large numbers of this oceanic species are washed ashore, the local economy can be affected because tourists avoid the beaches and fishers are stung while trying to retrieve their nets, which can be clogged by the jellyfish.[3][10] Additionally, swarms of Pelagia noctiluca have been recorded wiping out entire fish farms.[13][14] Because of this, it has become one of the most studied jellyfish species.[15]

  1. ^ a b c Cornelius, Paul (2004). "Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  2. ^ Petrus Forsskål; Carsten Niebuhr (1775), Descriptiones animalium, avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium (in Latin), ex officina Mölleri, p. 109, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.2154, LCCN 06014263, OCLC 2862383, OL 6968613M, Wikidata Q51431142
  3. ^ a b c d e Mariottini, Gian Luigi; Elisabetta Giacco; Luigi Pane (2008). "The Mauve Stinger Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775). Distribution, Ecology, Toxicity and Epidemiology of Stings, A Review". Mar. Drugs. 6 (3): 496–513. doi:10.3390/md20080025. PMC 2579739. PMID 19005582.
  4. ^ a b Houghton, J. (4 August 2008). "Pelagia noctiluca (mauve stinger)". Invasive Species Compendium. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  5. ^ Thomas, Lauren. Wood, James B.; Abel Valdivia (eds.). "Purple-striped jelly (Pelagia noctiluca)". Marine Invertebrates of Bermuda. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Purple Stinger". Australian Museum. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Common names of Pelagia noctiluca". SeaLifeBase. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  8. ^ πελαγία, πέλαγος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  9. ^ nox, lux. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
  10. ^ a b Canepa, Antonio; Verónica Fuentes; Ana Sabatés; Stefano Piraino; Ferdinando Boero; Josep-María Gili (2014). "Pelagia noctiluca in the Mediterranean Sea". In Kylie A. Pitt; Cathy H. Lucas (eds.). Jellyfish Blooms. Springer. pp. 237–266. ISBN 978-94-007-7014-0.
  11. ^ Larkins, Damien; Bern Young (25 August 2016). "Mysterious red jellyfish found on Gold Coast beach". ABC News. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  12. ^ "Beach Safety: Sting. Stab. Strike. Marine Stingers" (PDF). Surf Life Saving Queensland. 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Jellyfish swarm kills 300,000 salmon at Uist fish farm". BBC. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Stinger jellyfish swarms wipe out farmed salmon in west of Ireland". Irish Times. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  15. ^ Pérez-Portela, R.; A. Riesgo (2018). "Population Genomics of Early-Splitting Lineages of Metazoans". Population Genomics. Springer, Cham. pp. 1–35. doi:10.1007/13836_2018_13. ISBN 978-3-030-37935-3.