Ctenophora · comb jellies

Warty comb jelly

Mnemiopsis leidyi

Bolinopsidae · lobed comb jelliesIUCN: Not evaluated
Warty comb jelly
Photo: Stefan Siebert · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · resized

A glowing, lobed comb jelly native to Western Atlantic estuaries.

Fun factAfter it was introduced to the Black Sea in the 1980s, it helped collapse the anchovy fishery there.

Waters
Northeast US, Northwest Atlantic, Tropical Atlantic & Caribbean
Depth zone
Coastal shallows & estuaries
Diet
Zooplankton & fish eggs
Size
Up to 12 cm

Classification

Ctenophora › Bolinopsidae

  1. Kingdom Animalia animals
    • Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
    • Cells have no cell walls
    • Most can move at some stage of life
  2. Phylum Ctenophora comb jellies
    • Comb jellies: swim using eight rows of beating hair plates (comb rows)
    • Catch prey with sticky cells (colloblasts), not stinging cells
    • Comb rows scatter light into rainbows
  3. Family Bolinopsidae lobed comb jellies
    • Lobed comb jellies with two large oral lobes for trapping prey
    • Tentacles are short and reduced
  4. Genus Mnemiopsis
    • Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
  5. Species Mnemiopsis leidyi Warty comb jelly