Bristle worms attack: benthic jellyfish are not trophic dead ends

Stoner, Elizabeth W.; Layman, Craig A.

doi:10.1890/1540-9295-13.4.226

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Jellyfish (here considered as Phylum Cnidaria; Class Scyphozoa) are a conspicuous, yet long-overlooked component of pelagic marine systems. In recent years, the notion of gelatinous species as merely carbon sinks or trophic dead ends has become largely obsolete ( Arai, 2005 ; Hansson & Norrman, 1995 ), and there is renewed interest in their trophic ecology ( Stoner & Layman, 2015 ; Sweetman et al, 2014 ). Beyond widely-recognised obligate predators of jellyfish such as leatherback turtles ( Houghton et al, 2006 ), Arai (2005) drew attention to a wide range of opportunistic carnivores such as molluscs, arthropods, reptiles and birds that feed upon gelata episodically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond widely-recognised obligate predators of jellyfish such as leatherback turtles ( Houghton et al, 2006 ), Arai (2005) drew attention to a wide range of opportunistic carnivores such as molluscs, arthropods, reptiles and birds that feed upon gelata episodically. More recently, opportunist scavenging on jellyfish has been observed in the deep-sea ( Sweetman et al, 2014 ) as well as shallower benthic environments ( Stoner & Layman, 2015 ). From a perspective of top-down control, it is also known that the collective prey-consumption rates of gelatinous aggregations can be so high that predation can directly or indirectly control the population size of other zooplanktonic organisms including larval fish ( Nielsen, Pedersen & Riisgård, 1997 ; Purcell, 1992 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology

Fleming

Harrod

Newton

et al. 2015

PeerJ

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Jellyfish are highly topical within studies of pelagic food-webs and there is a growing realisation that their role is more complex than once thought. Efforts being made to include jellyfish within fisheries and ecosystem models are an important step forward, but our present understanding of their underlying trophic ecology can lead to their oversimplification in these models. Gelatinous zooplankton represent a polyphyletic assemblage spanning >2,000 species that inhabit coastal seas to the deep-ocean and employ a wide variety of foraging strategies. Despite this diversity, many contemporary modelling approaches include jellyfish as a single functional group feeding at one or two trophic levels at most. Recent reviews have drawn attention to this issue and highlighted the need for improved communication between biologists and theoreticians if this problem is to be overcome. We used stable isotopes to investigate the trophic ecology of three co-occurring scyphozoan jellyfish species (Aurelia aurita, Cyanea lamarckii and C. capillata) within a temperate, coastal food-web in the NE Atlantic. Using information on individual size, time of year and δ13C and δ15N stable isotope values, we examined: (1) whether all jellyfish could be considered as a single functional group, or showed distinct inter-specific differences in trophic ecology; (2) Were size-based shifts in trophic position, found previously in A. aurita, a common trait across species?; (3) When considered collectively, did the trophic position of three sympatric species remain constant over time? Differences in δ15N (trophic position) were evident between all three species, with size-based and temporal shifts in δ15N apparent in A. aurita and C. capillata. The isotopic niche width for all species combined increased throughout the season, reflecting temporal shifts in trophic position and seasonal succession in these gelatinous species. Taken together, these findings support previous assertions that jellyfish require more robust inclusion in marine fisheries or ecosystem models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology

Fleming

Harrod

Newton

et al. 2015

PeerJ

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“…It has also been suggested that fireworms might sequester toxins from their diet, including palytoxin (PTX), the most potent nonprotein toxin known, produced by zoanthids and a few other organisms ( Gleibs et al. 1995 ; Stoner and Layman 2015 ; Schulze et al. 2017 ).…”

Section: Evidence Of the Venomous Nature Of Firewormsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Fireworms Venomous? Evidence for the Convergent Evolution of Toxin Homologs in Three Species of Fireworms (Annelida, Amphinomidae)

Verdes

Simpson

Holford

2017

Genome Biology and Evolution

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Amphinomids, more commonly known as fireworms, are a basal lineage of marine annelids characterized by the presence of defensive dorsal calcareous chaetae, which break off upon contact. It has long been hypothesized that amphinomids are venomous and use the chaetae to inject a toxic substance. However, studies investigating fireworm venom from a morphological or molecular perspective are scarce and no venom gland has been identified to date, nor any toxin characterized at the molecular level. To investigate this question, we analyzed the transcriptomes of three species of fireworms—Eurythoe complanata, Hermodice carunculata, and Paramphinome jeffreysii—following a venomics approach to identify putative venom compounds. Our venomics pipeline involved de novo transcriptome assembly, open reading frame, and signal sequence prediction, followed by three different homology search strategies: BLAST, HMMER sequence, and HMMER domain. Following this pipeline, we identified 34 clusters of orthologous genes, representing 13 known toxin classes that have been repeatedly recruited into animal venoms. Specifically, the three species share a similar toxin profile with C-type lectins, peptidases, metalloproteinases, spider toxins, and CAP proteins found among the most highly expressed toxin homologs. Despite their great diversity, the putative toxins identified are predominantly involved in three major biological processes: hemostasis, inflammatory response, and allergic reactions, all of which are commonly disrupted after fireworm stings. Although the putative fireworm toxins identified here need to be further validated, our results strongly suggest that fireworms are venomous animals that use a complex mixture of toxins for defense against predators.

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“…Jellyfish (here considered as Phylum Cnidaria; Class Scyphozoa) are a conspicuous, yet longoverlooked component of pelagic marine systems. In recent years the notion of gelatinous species as merely carbon sinks, or trophic dead ends has become largely obsolete (Arai 2005;Hansson & Norrman 1995) and there is renewed interest in their trophic ecology (Stoner & Layman 2015;Sweetman et al 2014). Beyond widely-recognised obligate predators of jellyfish such as leatherback turtles (Houghton et al 2006), Arai (2005) drew attention to a wide range of opportunistic carnivores such as molluscs, arthropods, reptiles and birds that feed upon gelata episodically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond widely-recognised obligate predators of jellyfish such as leatherback turtles (Houghton et al 2006), Arai (2005) drew attention to a wide range of opportunistic carnivores such as molluscs, arthropods, reptiles and birds that feed upon gelata episodically. More recently, opportunist scavenging on jellyfish has been observed in the deepsea (Sweetman et al 2014) as well shallower benthic environments (Stoner & Layman 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer Review #3 of "Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology (v0.1)"

Kogovsek¹

2015

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Jellyfish are highly topical within studies of pelagic food-webs and there is a growing realisation that their role is more complex than once thought. Efforts being made to include jellyfish within fisheries and ecosystem models are an important step forward, but our present understanding of their underlying trophic ecology can lead to their oversimplification in these models. Gelatinous zooplankton represent a polyphyletic assemblage spanning >2,000 species that inhabit coastal seas to the deep-ocean and employ a wide variety of foraging strategies. Despite this diversity, many contemporary modelling approaches include jellyfish as a single functional group feeding at one or two trophic levels at most. Recent reviews have drawn attention to this issue and highlighted the need for improved communication between biologists and theoreticians if this problem is to be overcome. We used stable isotopes to investigate the trophic ecology of three cooccurring scyphozoan jellyfish species (Aurelia aurita, Cyanea lamarckii and C. capillata) within a temperate, coastal food-web in the NE Atlantic. Using information on individual size, time of year and δ 13 C and δ 15 N stable isotope values we examined: (1) whether all jellyfish could be considered as a single functional group, or showed distinct inter-specific differences in trophic ecology; (2) Were size-based shifts in trophic position, found previously in A. aurita, a common trait across species?; (3) When considered collectively, did the trophic position of three sympatric species remain constant over time? Differences in δ15N (trophic position) were evident between all three species, with size-based and temporal shifts in δ15N apparent in A. aurita and C. capillata. The isotopic niche width for all species combined increased throughout the season, reflecting temporal shifts in trophic position and seasonal succession in these gelatinous species. Taken together, these findings support previous assertions that jellyfish require more robust inclusion in marine fisheries or ecosystem models.

show abstract

Bristle worms attack: benthic jellyfish are not trophic dead ends

Cited by 13 publications

References 10 publications

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology

Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology

Are Fireworms Venomous? Evidence for the Convergent Evolution of Toxin Homologs in Three Species of Fireworms (Annelida, Amphinomidae)

Peer Review #3 of "Not all jellyfish are equal: isotopic evidence for inter- and intraspecific variation in jellyfish trophic ecology (v0.1)"

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