Rediscovery and description of the cubomedusa Alatina grandis (Agassiz and Mayer, 1902) (Cnidaria: Cubozoa: Alatinidae) from Pakistani waters
2017
Straehler-Pohl, I. (Medusa(')s Nursery, Private Laboratory for Life cycle, Developmental and Evolutionary Research, Stade-Hagen (Germany)) | Gul, S.
In 2014, a huge sized box jellyfish specimen was caught during a fishing trawl in off-shore waters near Karachi, Pakistan. While taking photographs the specimen broke into pieces due to its own weight but at least its size hinted to its identity as a member of one of three Carybdeida families: Alatinidae Gershwin, 2005 (genera Alatina Gershwin, 2005 or Keesingia Gershwin, 2014), Carukiidae Bentlage et al., 2010 (genus Morbakka Gershwin, 2008) or Tamoyidae Haeckel, 1880 (genus Tamoya Muller, 1859). After sampling six more specimens off Sonmiani, Pakistan, morphological observation of the diagnostic features was possible and all these specimens were identified to belong to the family Alatinidae, precisely the genus Alatina. There are only 7 accepted Alatina species but up to now only one possesses a bell size this big. This report presents the occurrence of the alatiniid jellyfish, Alatina grandis (Agassiz and Mayer, 1902), officially recorded for the first time from waters off the coast of Pakistan in the northern Arabian Sea and the rediscovery of specimens from this region in the collection of the 'John Murray' Expedition 1933-34 of the Natural History Museum in London.
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