Phil Garner, Southern California Marine Life, USA
Info
Praya dubia (Quoy & Gaimard, 1833)
Praya dubia is an invertebrate that lives in the deep sea to a depth of 3652 meters below sea level, it has been found off the coasts of the whole world, from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Chile in the South Pacific.
Praya dubia is a member of the order Siphonophorae within the class Hydrozoa. With a body length of up to 50 meters, it is the second longest marine organism after the boot spool worm, also known as the long nemertine (Lineus longissimus), although Praya dubia is as thin as a broomstick.
The giant siphonophore is not a single, multicellular organism, but a colony of tiny biological components called zooids, each of which has evolved with a specific function.
Like other cnidarians, these state jellyfish can also produce a beautiful blue bioluminescent glow. The translucent “main body” consists of two opposing asymmetrical swimming bells (nectophores) that can grow up to 10 cm long, and the translucent, yellow stalk is usually about 2.5 cm in diameter.
Praya has a strong sting, the sting of which can cause a strange, cottage cheese-like blotchiness on the skin, followed by peeling of the skin around the sting in a large layer (similar to a bad sunburn or a snake shedding its skin).
While the sting can be painful or even medically questionable for humans, it is often fatal to fish and other invertebrates.
The giant jellyfish hunts its prey by “spinning its web” of tentacles: While the trunk part of the colony trails behind over a long distance, the animal stops and hangs in the water like a cloud in the sky, and the tentacles are then relaxed into a curtain of stingers.
Synonymised names:
Diphyes dubia Quoy & Gaimard, 1833 · unaccepted (basionym)
Nectocarmen antonioi Alvariño, 1983 · unaccepted (synonym)
Praia dubia Blainville, 1830 · unaccepted (reference to manuscript of Quoy &...)
Prayoides intermedia Leloup, 1934 · unaccepted (synonym)
Praya dubia is an invertebrate that lives in the deep sea to a depth of 3652 meters below sea level, it has been found off the coasts of the whole world, from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Chile in the South Pacific.
Praya dubia is a member of the order Siphonophorae within the class Hydrozoa. With a body length of up to 50 meters, it is the second longest marine organism after the boot spool worm, also known as the long nemertine (Lineus longissimus), although Praya dubia is as thin as a broomstick.
The giant siphonophore is not a single, multicellular organism, but a colony of tiny biological components called zooids, each of which has evolved with a specific function.
Like other cnidarians, these state jellyfish can also produce a beautiful blue bioluminescent glow. The translucent “main body” consists of two opposing asymmetrical swimming bells (nectophores) that can grow up to 10 cm long, and the translucent, yellow stalk is usually about 2.5 cm in diameter.
Praya has a strong sting, the sting of which can cause a strange, cottage cheese-like blotchiness on the skin, followed by peeling of the skin around the sting in a large layer (similar to a bad sunburn or a snake shedding its skin).
While the sting can be painful or even medically questionable for humans, it is often fatal to fish and other invertebrates.
The giant jellyfish hunts its prey by “spinning its web” of tentacles: While the trunk part of the colony trails behind over a long distance, the animal stops and hangs in the water like a cloud in the sky, and the tentacles are then relaxed into a curtain of stingers.
Synonymised names:
Diphyes dubia Quoy & Gaimard, 1833 · unaccepted (basionym)
Nectocarmen antonioi Alvariño, 1983 · unaccepted (synonym)
Praia dubia Blainville, 1830 · unaccepted (reference to manuscript of Quoy &...)
Prayoides intermedia Leloup, 1934 · unaccepted (synonym)
