Description and life cycle of a solitary coronate scyphozoan from deep waters of the southeast coast of Brazil (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa, Coronatae, Nausithoidae) and comparison with other species

Abstract

The study of the life cycle has been essential to the unraveling of the systematics of the order Coronatae Vanhöffen, 1892. That is because only observations of polyps or medusae are not enough to distinguish species. Scyphozoan coronates are marine organisms abundant in deep sea environments, especially coral reefs due to their preference to settle in calcareous substrates. Due to the importance of deep sea reefs and the current threat from predatory fisheries over this environment, it is important to know the diversity of associated organisms - in this case the scyphozoan coronates. The goals of this project are: identify and describe the species of the genus Nausithoe that occurs in deep waters of the southeast coast of Brazil and that is in cultivation in the lab; compare the life cycle of this species with the one of N. aurea, N. werneri and N. maculata; to propose a phylogenetic hypotheses including these species using morphological and molecular data (16S and COI markers). (AU)