Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Bonaire Banded Box Jelly Named to the Journal for Zoolological Taxonomists (ZooTaxa)

The Bonaire banded box jelly, now named Tamoya ohboya, has been officially listed this January 2011 by ZooTaxa, a mega-journal for zoological taxonomy in the world. Scientific studies of this new species of Cubozoan jellyfish began in 2001 after additional sightings were reported on Bonaire.

The first sighting of the jelly was captured on video and showed a single, strong-swimming cuboid shaped jellyfish that had four banded tentacles, and was identified as a box jellyfish of the class Cubozoa. It was covered in nematocyst warts and had a deep stomach. The tentacle binding pattern was distinct with dark brown to reddish-orange banded tentacles, which is unusual in the class Cubozoa, indicating that a new species may have been discovered.

Since that time, 50 sightings have been recorded in the Caribbean Basin, with most sightings occurring in Bonaire, and additional sightings in St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Cozumel, Mexico and Utila, Honduras. Three specimens have been collected, with the first one being on the surface of the water off Klein Bonaire, and are currently being stored at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. Furthermore, there are three recorded contacts with humans and evidence indicates that the sting is serious. The species is related to two other species; one found in Brazil and the other in the southeastern part of the United States. (Source: ZooTaxa)