André C. Morandini

A report of 49 cases of cnidarian envenoming from southeastern Brazilian coastal waters

Forty-nine accidents caused by jellyfish (Cnidaria) were observed during a period of 5 years on the southeastern coast of Brazil. Most of them involved male patients (65.3%), the injured areas being mainly the legs (71.3%) and the trunk (65.3%). Twenty accidents with Chiropsalmus quadrumanus, four with Physalia physalis and 20 with unidentified jellyfish presented intense pain, linear plaques and systemic symptoms. The five cases with Olindias sambaquiensis caused mild pain, round plaques and no systemic symptoms. There are a few reports on accidents caused by jellyfish, in this country, and scarce clinical or epidemiological data are available up to the present moment.

Checklist of the Cnidaria Medusozoa of Brazil

Uma lista dos Cnidaria Medusozoa marinhos do Brasil foi composta a partir de registros de ocorrencia disponiveis na literatura. Ate o momento, ha um total de 373 especies registradas para o Brazil: 347 de Hydrozoa, 3 de Cubozoa e 23 de Scyphozoa.

On the occurrence of scyphozoan ephyrae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Semaeostomeae and Rhizostomeae) in the southeastern Brazilian coast

The occurrence of ephyrae of the scyphozoan orders Semaeostomeae and Rhizostomeae is reported for the first time for the Brazilian coast. The specimens, caught in plankton tows in the Sao Sebastiao Channel and the Cananeia lagoon estuarine system, are: Chrysaora lactea (Semaeostomeae), Phyllorhiza punctata (Rhizostomeae), and an unidentified species of Pelagia (Semaeostomeae). A table with all species of scyphozoan with the known life cycle is provided.

Proteomic characterisation of toxins isolated from nematocysts of the South Atlantic jellyfish Olindias sambaquiensis

Surprisingly little is known of the toxic arsenal of cnidarian nematocysts compared to other venomous animals. Here we investigate the toxins of nematocysts isolated from the jellyfish Olindias sambaquiensis. A total of 29 unique ms/ms events were annotated as potential toxins homologous to the toxic proteins from diverse animal phyla, including cone-snails, snakes, spiders, scorpions, wasp, bee, parasitic worm and other Cnidaria. Biological activities of these potential toxins include cytolysins, neurotoxins, phospholipases and toxic peptidases. The presence of several toxic enzymes is intriguing, such as sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase B (SMase B) that has only been described in certain spider venoms, and a prepro-haystatin P-IIId snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP) that activates coagulation factor X, which is very rare even in snake venoms. Our annotation reveals sequence orthologs to many representatives of the most important superfamilies of peptide venoms suggesting that their origins in higher organisms arise from deep eumetazoan innovations. Accordingly, cnidarian venoms may possess unique biological properties that might generate new leads in the discovery of novel pharmacologically active drugs.

Fast-Evolving Mitochondrial DNA in Ceriantharia: A Reflection of Hexacorallia Paraphyly?

The low evolutionary rate of mitochondrial genes in Anthozoa has challenged their utility for phylogenetic and systematic purposes, especially for DNA barcoding. However, the evolutionary rate of Ceriantharia, one of the most enigmatic “orders” within Anthozoa, has never been specifically examined. In this study, the divergence of mitochondrial DNA of Ceriantharia was compared to members of other Anthozoa and Medusozoa groups. In addition, nuclear markers were used to check the relative phylogenetic position of Ceriantharia in relation to other Cnidaria members. The results demonstrated a pattern of divergence of mitochondrial DNA completely different from those estimated for other anthozoans, and phylogenetic analyses indicate that Ceriantharia is not included within hexacorallians in most performed analyses. Thus, we propose that the Ceriantharia should be addressed as a separate clade.

Cultivation of polyps and medusae of Coronatae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) with a brief review of important characters

Abstract. This work is a concise guide to the methods, techniques and equipment needed for the collection and transport of specimens, for arranging, maintaining and controlling cultures, for handling polyps, ephyrae, medusae and/or planuloids, and for standardising species description on the basis of life-cycle studies of Scyphozoa Coronatae. Objective characteristics meaningful to systematics are listed and illustrated. Suggestions for important literature sources are given, mainly on the rearing of metagenetic cnidarians in the laboratory.

Cubozoa e Scyphozoa (Cnidaria: Medusozoa) de águas costeiras do Brasil

Coastal species of Cubozoa and Scyphozoa occurring in Brazil are described, based on museum specimens and recently collected ones. Identification keys and a glossary are also presented. The listed species are: Aurelia sp.; Cassiopea xamachana Bigelow, 1892; Chiropsalmus quadrumanus (Muller, 1859); Chrysaora lactea Eschscholtz, 1829; Drymonema dalmatinum Haeckel, 1880; Linuche unguiculata (Swartz, 1788); Lychnorhiza lucerna Haeckel, 1880; Nausithoe aurea Silveira & Morandini, 1997; Phyllorhiza punctata von Lendenfeld, 1884; Stomolophus meleagris Agassiz, 1862; Tamoya haplonema Muller, 1859; and Tripedalia cystophora Conant, 1897.

Synopsis of knowledge on Cnidaria Medusozoa from Brazil

Uma sinopse sobre o conhecimento dos Medusozoa (Cnidaria) da costa brasileira e apresentada. Este estudo e baseado em uma lista com todos os registros de Medusozoa para o Brasil, incluindo informacoes sobre a distribuicao das especies e suas fases (polipo ou medusa). O numero de especies de Medusozoa registradas para o Brasil ate o momento e 377 (205 generos e 82 familias), com 348 especies de hidrozoarios, 22 de cifozoarios, 3 de cubozoarios e 1 de estaurozoario. Analises geografica e historica tambem foram conduzidas. A analise geografica mostra claramente a ausencia de conhecimento sobre a biodiversidade da costa norte bem como de parte da costa nordeste do pais. Embora a costa sudeste seja a melhor conhecida em termos de numeros de especies e representantes de taxons supragenericos registrados, ha em geral ausencia de conhecimento sobre ambientes diferentes das aguas rasas, um padrao tambem observado para as outras regioes. Historicamente, o crescimento dos registros de hidrozoarios iniciou-se apos a decada de 1940, com um aumento na ultima decada; os estudos com coronados estao todos concentrados na ultima decada mas, em geral, outros grupos mostram um acumulo lento e gradual nos registros de especies. Linhas gerais e politicas para o estudo da biodiversidade dos Medusozoa sao sugeridas.

The life cycle of Chrysaora lactea Eschscholtz, 1829 (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) with notes on the scyphistoma stage of three other species

The life cycle of Chrysaora lactea Eschscholtz, 1829, a common species on the Brazilian coast, is described. Mature medusae were collected and isolated in a planktonkreisel, whereupon planulae appeared after 1–2 days. These planulae settled and metamorphosed into polyps. Fully developed scyphistomae typically possessed 16 tentacles, and on strobilation produced from 2 to 10 ephyrae. The ephyrae were transparent and had characteristic nematocyst warts on the exumbrella. Tentacles first appeared near the margin on the subumbrella. Ephyrae and young medusae were maintained in laboratory conditions up to 7 months.

Evolutionary diversification of banded tube-dwelling anemones (Cnidaria; Ceriantharia; Isarachnanthus) in the Atlantic Ocean.

The use of molecular data for species delimitation in Anthozoa is still a very delicate issue. This is probably due to the low genetic variation found among the molecular markers (primarily mitochondrial) commonly used for Anthozoa. Ceriantharia is an anthozoan group that has not been tested for genetic divergence at the species level. Recently, all three Atlantic species described for the genus Isarachnanthus of Atlantic Ocean, were deemed synonyms based on morphological simmilarities of only one species: Isarachnanthus maderensis. Here, we aimed to verify whether genetic relationships (using COI, 16S, ITS1 and ITS2 molecular markers) confirmed morphological affinities among members of Isarachnanthus from different regions across the Atlantic Ocean. Results from four DNA markers were completely congruent and revealed that two different species exist in the Atlantic Ocean. The low identification success and substantial overlap between intra and interspecific COI distances render the Anthozoa unsuitable for DNA barcoding, which is not true for Ceriantharia. In addition, genetic divergence within and between Ceriantharia species is more similar to that found in Medusozoa (Hydrozoa and Scyphozoa) than Anthozoa and Porifera that have divergence rates similar to typical metazoans. The two genetic species could also be separated based on micromorphological characteristics of their cnidomes. Using a specimen of Isarachnanthus bandanensis from Pacific Ocean as an outgroup, it was possible to estimate the minimum date of divergence between the clades. The cladogenesis event that formed the species of the Atlantic Ocean is estimated to have occured around 8.5 million years ago (Miocene) and several possible speciation scenarios are discussed.