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Cubomedusae: Feeding — Functional Morphology, Behavior and Phylogenetic Position

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Abstract

The cubomedusae, well known as the “sea-wasps”, are also notorious because of their voracious feeding habits, F. Conant (1898), who made the first notable study of the biology of cubomedusae, was amazed that Carybdea could capture and swallow relatively large fish., Barnes (1966) who worked on Australian cubomedusae was greatly impressed by the ability of Chiropsalmus and Chironex to consume numerous shrimp of the genus Acetes. Detailed studies of prey capture and transfer, and other aspects of feeding are nonexistent. In fact, except for a few published accounts, such as Southward’s (1955) paper on Aurelia and Smith’s (1936) paper on Cassiopea, no other extensive work has been reported concerning feeding in medusae. In this paper, a comprehensive account of feeding behavior and functional morphology of feeding structures are provided for the cubomedusae, with particular emphasis on Carybdea marsupialis (L.).

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© 1976 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Larson, R.J. (1976). Cubomedusae: Feeding — Functional Morphology, Behavior and Phylogenetic Position. In: Mackie, G.O. (eds) Coelenterate Ecology and Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9724-4_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9724-4_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9726-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9724-4

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