UWA research on deep-sea jellys uncovers ocean barrier
Dr Javier Montenegro, from UWA's School of Biological Sciences and the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, led the study which has been published in Deep Sea Research.
It was the distribution of the jellyfish and their differing shapes that alluded to a potential deep-sea bio-geographic barrier.
'This jellyfish, the trachymedusan subspecies Botrynema brucei ellinorae , has two different shapes depending on which area it occurs in – one with a distinctive knob at the top and one without,' Dr Montenegro said in a statement.
Dr Montenegro explained that both types of jellyfish occur in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, but jellyfish without the distinctive 'knob' have never been found south of the North Atlantic Drift region — which extends from the Grand Banks off Newfoundland east, towards north-western Europe. The jelly has two different shapes depending on which area it occurs in – one with a distinctive knob at the top and one without. Credit: Facebook
The study combined historical observations, photographic records and genetic analyses to examine the distribution of the jellyfish around the world; the study found that genetic data linked the specimens both with and without a knob in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions to specimens with a knob found in the subtropical western Atlantic region.
'The differences in shape, despite strong genetic similarities across specimens, above and below 47 degrees north hint at the existence of an unknown deep-sea bio-geographic barrier in the Atlantic Ocean,' Dr Montenegro said.
The findings suggest that a semi-permeable barrier is located in the North Atlantic Drift region which has important consequences for understanding patterns of biodiversity, species evolutionary processes and their dispersal across ocean basins.
'It could keep specimens without a knob confined to the north while allowing the free transit of specimens with a knob further south, with the knob possibly giving a selective advantage against predators outside the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions,' Dr Montenegro said.
'The presence of two specimens with distinctive shapes within a single genetic lineage highlights the need to study more about the biodiversity of gelatinous marine animals.'
The study of the trachymedusan subspecies of deep-sea jellyfish follows extraordinary deep-sea discoveries this year. Noteably, an expedition in January 2025 by Schmidt Ocean Institute recorded the first-ever footage of a glacial glass squid.
The expedition also recorded the latest sighting of the giant phantom jelly ( Stygiomedusa gigantea ) which can be more than one metre wide, and the animal's four ribbon-like 'oral arms' can reach lengths of more than 10 metres.
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