First records ofCarybdea marsupialisproliferation (Cnidaria: Cubozoa) along the eastern Tunisian coast (Central Mediterranean)

Abstract

The cubozoan jellyfish Carybdea marsupialis Linnaeus, 1758 is recorded for the first time from the eastern Tunisian coast (Hammamet beach). A few specimens (three adult individuals) were first recorded in July 2005. In spite of several jellyfish monitoring campaigns carried out along the Tunisian coasts in recent years, new records of C. marsupialis from the same location were only made years later, in July and August 2014, consisting of aggregations of adult jellyfish (mean density of 1.1 ± 1.0 ind. m −3 ), which may pose a severe threat to bathers due to their painful stings. The mean morphometric parameter values from 55 C. marsupialis specimens sampled during the same period are reported here, and the possible causes for box jellyfish proliferation in the Hammamet coastal zone are also discussed.

Jellyfish diversity, trends and patterns in Southwestern Mediterranean Sea: a citizen science and field monitoring alliance

“…The eastern coasts, including the Gulfs of Hammamet, Gabès and Boughrara, belong to the Tunisian Plateau (TP). This geographical position, straddling the western and the central/eastern Mediterranean Seas, makes Tunisia an ideal location to investigate marine biodiversity, and its relationship with the different environments while being a lookout point for recording the NIS expansion between the two basins (Daly-Yahia et al, 2013;Gueroun et al, 2015a;Ounifi-Ben Amor et al, 2016). Tunisia has one of the shallowest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Mediterranean Sea, as its continental shelf represents 64.5% of the EEZ (66 000 m 2 ) (Halouani et al, 2015).…”

Effects of environmental variables on the distribution of juvenile cubomedusae Carybdea marsupialis in the coastal Western Mediterranean

“…Some authors point out that the increase of artificial constructions along the Mediterranean coast (harbours, breakwaters) may have increased the available habitat for C. marsupialis since that could have encouraged the settlement of cubomedusa polyps [11,15,36]. Despite our efforts to locate polyps of C. marsupialis by inspection of hard substrates and by using inverse traps, we were unable to find any in our study area.…”

“…For instance, the mean density of C. marsupialis in 2010-2011 was 0.8 ind m -3 [12], but 0.17 ind m -3 in 2013 [13]. More recently, this species has been found in Malta [14] and off the east coast of Tunisia, with an average of 1.1 ind m -3 and a maximum of 1.8 ind m -3 [15].…”

Jellyfish as an Alternative Source of Bioactive Antiproliferative Compounds

“…The cubomedusa Carybdaea marsupialis is found typically in the Mediterranean Sea [36]. Recorded in the Adriatic Sea for the first time in 1985 [37] and in Tunisia in 2015 [38], it appears in aggregations of solitary individuals [39]. The apparent increase in the individuals belonging to this species has been attributed to a greater availability of substrate for polyps [22].…”