Cyanea | |
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Lion's mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Cnidaria |
Class: | Scyphozoa |
Order: | Semaeostomeae |
Family: | Cyaneidae |
Genus: | Cyanea Péron and Lesueur, 1809 |
Species | |
See text |
Cyanea is a genus of jellyfish, primarily found in northern waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and southern Pacific waters of Australia[1] and New Zealand, there are also several boreal,[2] polar, tropical and sub-tropical species. Commonly found in and associated with rivers and fjords.[3] The same genus name has been given to a genus of plants of the Hawaiian lobelioids, an example of a parahomonym (same name, different kingdom).[4]
The taxonomy of Cyanea species has seen increased scrutiny in recent years.[1][5][2] Early zoologists suggested that all species within the genus should be treated as one.[6][7] Recent molecular and integrative taxonomic studies have refuted this assertion[1][8][9] as the scyphozoan community has restored many of the previous species.[10] For example, in the North Sea, the lion's mane jellyfish and the blue jellyfish appear as distinct species.[11] On the East Coast of the United States there are at least two co-occurring species, C. fulva and C. versicolor.[12] Cyanea may be a species complex of recently diverged species.