Research Hub for Coral Reef Ecosystem Functions, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2021 May 13;11(1):10280. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89755-7.
Cubozoan jellyfish are classified as plankton despite the strong swimming and orientation abilities of cubomedusae. How these capabilities could affect cubozoan population structures is poorly understood. Medusae of the cubozoan Copula sivickisi can uniquely attach to surfaces with the sticky pads on their bells. Biophysical modelling was used to investigate the spatial scales of connectivity in a C. sivickisi population. When the medusae were active at night they could maintain their observed distribution on fringing reef if they attached to the reef when the current speed exceeded a moderate threshold. This behaviour facilitated the isolation of a C. sivickisi population on reefs fringing Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia. Within this distribution, there was considerable within bay retention and medusae rarely travelled > 3 km. The few (< 0.1%) medusae lost from the island habitat were largely advected into open water and away from the mainland coast which lies 8 km from the island. Given that successful emigration is unlikely, the island population probably represents a stock that is ecologically distinct from any mainland populations. The cosmopolitan distribution of C. sivickisi could contain incipient or cryptic species given the small scales of connectivity demonstrated here.
箱形水母被归类为浮游生物，尽管它们具有很强的游泳和定向能力。这些能力如何影响箱形水母的种群结构还不太清楚。立方水母Copula sivickisi 的水母体可以用它们钟形上的粘性垫独特地附着在表面上。生物物理模型被用来研究 C. sivickisi 种群的连通性空间尺度。当水母体在夜间活动时，如果它们在海流速度超过中等阈值时附着在珊瑚礁上，它们可以保持在边缘珊瑚礁上的观察到的分布。这种行为促进了澳大利亚昆士兰州磁性岛边缘珊瑚礁上 C. sivickisi 种群的隔离。在这个分布范围内，湾内的保留量相当大，水母体很少移动超过 3 公里。从岛屿栖息地损失的少数(<0.1%)水母体主要被输送到开阔水域，并远离距离岛屿 8 公里的大陆海岸。由于不太可能成功移民，该岛种群可能代表了一种与任何大陆种群在生态上不同的种群。考虑到这里显示的连通性的小尺度，C. sivickisi 的世界性分布可能包含初生的或隐匿的物种。
