New record of the deep-sea jellyfish Poralia rufescens vanhöffen, 1902 (Class: Scyphozoa) in the Colombian Southern Caribbean

doi:10.15406/bij.2019.03.00116

eISSN: 2575-906X

Biodiversity International Journal

Short Communication Volume 3 Issue 1

New record of the deep-sea jellyfish Poralia rufescens vanhöffen, 1902 (Class: Scyphozoa) in the Colombian Southern Caribbean

Cristina Cedeño-Posso,¹ Luisa F Dueñas,^2,3 Jorge León,² Vladimir Puentes²

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¹Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, INVEMAR, Colombia
²Anadarko Colombia Company-HSE, Colombia
³Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia

Correspondence: Vladimir Puentes, Anadarko Colombia Company-HSE, Calle 113 No. 7-80 Piso 11, Bogot

Received: December 06, 2018 | Published: January 8, 2019

Citation: Cedeño-Posso C, Dueñas LF, León J, et al. New record of the deep-sea jellyfish Poralia rufescens vanhöffen, 1902 (Class: Scyphozoa) in the Colombian Southern Caribbean. Biodiversity Int J. 2019;3(1):1-2. DOI: 10.15406/bij.2019.03.00116

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Abstract

Poralia rufescens, Vanhöffen, 1902, is a bathypelagic Semaestomeae jellyfish that lives at depths below 600m in the Caribbean; this is the first report of this species and in general of a jellyfish in deep waters of the Colombian Caribbean and spotted in its natural environment thanks to ROV video recordings.

Keywords: Poralia, ROV video survey, ultra-deep waters, Colombian Caribbean

Introduction

Hydrocarbon exploratory drilling activities normally include ROV video surveys and towed camera transects of sites that are preselected for locating wells. During the exploratory activities between 2015 and 2017, jellyfish from the genus Poralia were sighted for the first time in deep waters of the Southwestern Colombian Caribbean, below 1500 m. ROV surveys were conducted in 80-100meter-long transects in cross fashion, with headings north, south, east, and west, from a central point. All video footage and still images were analyzed for the presence of Poralia, and, when found in the ROV videos, snapshots were taken using the software GOM player and VLC media player. For every visual confirmation, we registered coordinates, depth, time and date (Table 1).¹

Seven (7) records of the jellyfish from the genus Poralia were identified from ROV videos (Figure 1) at a depth between 1565 and 1816m.

Figure 1 Example of images obtained for Poralia sp. (A-D) during deep-sea hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the Southwestern Colombian Caribbean. Video-captures of Poralia sp. at (A) 1814m, (B) 1816m, (C) 1564m, and (D) 1807m deep.

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Scyphozoa

Subclass: Discomedusae

Order: Semaeostomeae

Family: Ulmaridae

Subfamily: Poraliinae

Genus: Poralia

Species: Poralia rufescens

Vanhöffen, 1902

Five species of Scyphozoa jellyfish are known for the Colombian Caribbean, Chrysaora sp., Aurelia sp., Cassiopea sp., Lychnohiza sp. aff. lucerna and Stomolophus meleagris most of them from epipelagic waters.^2,3 This is the first report from a jellyfish in deeper waters from the Colombian Caribbean. Poralia jellyfish (Scyphozoa: Semaeostomeae: Ulmaridae) were seen in ROV video surveys (Table 1). Poralia belong to the subfamily Poraliinae with only one genus and one species: Poralia rufescens. In ROV videos Poralia is easy to identify by its distinguishing characteristics as are the vertical orientation in the water column, the bell’s closed posture, the round ball shape and its reddish brown color typical of deep-sea jellyfish. Besides, it has a slow swim with relatively short tentacles extended out to the side and/or below the bell.^4,5 Although the identification based on still images is only possible if the diagnostic characters of the species are visible and distinguishable, it was possible to get confirmation of this species thanks to the review of some of its characters (Allen Collins, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, personal communication).

Image	Coordinates		Depth (m)	Time	Date
Image	Lat (N)	Long (W)	Depth (m)	Time	mm/dd/aaaa
ROV_2015_KronosDep_0008	9.165	-76.832	1565	9:48	8/27/2015
ROV_2017_OldPADep_0009	9.207	-76.832	1805	16:27	2/24/2017
ROV_2017_OldPADep_0011	9.207	-76.832	1809	16:19	2/24/2017
ROV_2017_NewPADep_0014	9.209	-76.832	1818	14:58	2/24/2017
ROV_2017_NewPADep_0012	9.209	-76.832	1816	15:11	2/24/2017
ROV_2017_NewPADep_0013	9.209	-76.832	1816	15:12	2/24/2017
ROV_2017_NewPADep_0017	9.209	-76.832	1814	15:36	2/24/2017

Table 1 Information on Poralia sp. sightings during deep-sea hydrocarbon exploratory activities using ROV surveys

The scyphomedusae Poralia is a bathypelagic jellyfish that lives below 600m in close association with the benthic boundary layer. Poralia has been reported in the Western Atlantic (Bahamas, Dry Tortugas and New England)^6,7 and in the Gulf of Mexico.⁸ Osborn et al.⁵ analyzed the environmental data where mesopelagic scyphomedusae occur, and their results concluded that Poralia was found more often in waters coldest, saltier (34.40ppt) and with lower oxygen concentration (< 0.3ml/l).

Funding details

This research was funded partially by Anadarko Colombia Company and Colciencias’ Post-Doctoral Program (Convocatoria 2017, Número 784)

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Anadarko Colombia Company, a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Company, that provided funding for the exploratory drilling projects, together with Ecopetrol. Other companies involved in the project were Dolphin Drilling that operated the Mobile Operating Drilling Unit, from where the ROV was launched; Subsea 7 (and its division I-TECH services) provided the ROV services. We thank the I-TECH Services technical staff that conducted the ROV surveys, for their willingness, time and patience that made possible the images that led us to this work. Thanks to Allen Collins of the National Systematics Laboratory of NOAA and Smithsonian Institution, for his comments and confirming the ID of these specimens. Contribution No. 1214 of the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras – INVEMAR.