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Macro Symbionts of Jellyfish Reported in the Coastal Waters of Sri Lanka

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Abstract

Both macroscopic vertebrates and invertebrates associated with jellyfishes in Sri Lankan waters were surveyed in 2017, as their interactions had not been studied before. In the survey, young teleost fishes were observed to be swimming together with medusae of Phyllorhiza punctata, and the absence of mesoglea in the stomach contents of the teleost Carangoides praeustus confirmed that the association is not a predatory relationship, but could be commensalism. Similar swimming behaviour was observed in the teleost Gnathanodon speciosus with the medusa, Acromitus flagellatus using underwater footage. Further, an association of the brittle star Ophiocnemis marmorata with jellyfishes, Marivagia stellata and Mastigias sidereus, was also reported in this study from Sri Lankan waters, and this relationship could be kleptoparasitism. Likewise, an assemblage of a copepod, Paramacrochiron sp., with medusae of Lobonemoides gracilis and Rhopilema hispidum was known as parasitism. This study reports, for the first time, the associations of C. praeustus,–P. punctata, G. speciosus,–A. flagellatus, O. marmorata,–M. stellata, O. marmorata,– and M. sidereus.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Mr. Nishan Perera (the director at Blue Resources Trust), Mr. Praveen Wijesuriya (the manager at Dive With Praveen), and Ms. Eliska Siskova (a diving instructor at Divinguru), who kindly provided us with some valuable images and footage of jellyfish–fauna interactions captured in Sri Lankan waters. We also thank Dr Shimpei Hiruta (National Museum of Nature and Science, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, Japan), Dr Abdul Riyas (University of Calicut, India) for providing some important literature and data. Special thank goes to Mr. Connearn Darren, Mr. Juan Gallardo, Mr. Evgeny Kovban, Mr. Nick Chapman, Mr. Kok Sheng and Mr. Stefan Follows (authors of web/blog sites publishing ophiuroid–jellyfish interactions), those who verified their data for our study over discussions.

Funding

The National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka (Grant: RG/2016/OMR/01) supported this work.

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  1. Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Faculty of Livestock, Fisheries and Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka, 60170, Makandura, Gonawila (NWP), Sri Lanka

    Krishan D. Karunarathne, A. Amirthalingam & M. D. S. T. de Croos

  2. Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, 20400, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    M. L. I. de Silva

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  1. Krishan D. Karunarathne
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  3. M. L. I. de Silva
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  4. M. D. S. T. de Croos
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The methodology, investigation, and writing—original draft preparation: [Krishan D Karunarathne]; investigation: [A. Amirthalingam]; investigation: [MLI de Silva]; funding acquisition, methodology, supervision, and writing—review and editing: [MDST de Croos].

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Karunarathne, K.D., Amirthalingam, A., de Silva, M.L.I. et al. Macro Symbionts of Jellyfish Reported in the Coastal Waters of Sri Lanka. Thalassas 40, 463–475 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41208-023-00632-8

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