Crossota millsae

Description

General: Outer bell hemispherical in shape. Interior of bell burnt tangerine in color, with ring and eight radial canals, manubrium, and gonads bright pink to lavender in color. Up to 220 tentacles occur in a single row along the edge of the bell.

Size: Bell to 28 mm diameter and 18 mm height.

Reproduction: Sexually dimorphic with males exhibiting pendant, sausage-like testes and females bearing globular ovaries. Viviparous with juvenile medusae attached to the mother.

Geographic Information

Published depth range: Greater than 1,000 m, most common at 2,144 - 3,254 meters off California and 1,200 - 1,300 m off Hawaii

Habitat description: Bathypelagic.

Ocean range (global): North Pacific Ocean (including California, Baja California, and Hawaii), Arctic Ocean.

Additional Information

Consulting taxonomist: Erik Thuesen, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA.

Color: Bell distinctively orange inside with canals, manubrium, and gonads pink to purple in color.

Key visual features: Red-orange bell, bright white tentacles. Large, visible gonads.l

Looks like: Crossota alba

References

Encyclopedia of Life

Tree of Life

World Register of Marine Species

National Center for Biotechnology Information

Thuesen, E.V. (2003). Crossota millsae (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae), a new species of viviparous hydromedusa from the deep sea off California and Hawaii. Zootaxa. 309: 1-12.

Raskoff, K.A., R.R. Hopcroft, K.N. Kosobokova, J.E. Purcell, and M. Youngbluth (2010). Jellies under ice: ROV observations from the Arctic 2005 hidden ocean expedition. Deep-Sea Research II, 57: 111-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2009.08.010