amber in color, extends from South Carolina into the 

 tropics and in summer is common around Jamaica. 

 Its jelly is more rigid than in most, and it can be 

 lifted by hand without injury, or readily maintained 

 in an aquarium. 



From north of Cape Cod into arctic waters the 

 common lobed form is Bolinopsis, also well known 

 from Scottish and northern European waters and 

 from the cool waters of the American Pacific coast. 



THE CESTIDS 



The cestids ("girdle-like") are a somewhat sur- 

 realistic version of the lobed ctenophores. The body 

 is a gelatinous ribbon, greatly flattened and elongated 

 in the plane at right angles to that of the mouth and 

 sense organ, so that these remain no farther apart 

 than in lobed comb jellies. The tentacles are reduced 

 to a tuft alongside the mouth and a row of short fila- 

 ments along the edge bearing the mouth. They swim 

 by graceful undulations of the body as well as by the 

 beating of elongated comb rows. The well-known 

 "Venus' girdle," Cestuin veneris, shimmering with 

 blue and green iridescence in the sunlight and some- 

 times reaching a length of AVi feet, easily deserves 

 the compliment of its name. The genus Cestuin and 

 the similar Vekunen, both known from the Mediter- 

 ranean and limited to warm waters, are represented 

 by species that turn up around Florida. 



THE FLATTENED CREEPING 

 COMB JELLIES 



The creeping ctenophores are an aberrant flat- 

 tened group, often colored on the upper surface in 

 dull reds or greens. Most are warm-water forms. 



Ctenoplana. with combs and two tentacles, can creep 

 on the bottom but usually floats at the surface off the 

 shores of Sumatra. New Guinea, Indochina, and Ja- 

 pan. Coeloplana, leaflike and also with two tentacles 

 but without combs in the adult, was discovered in 

 the Red Sea, is abundant ofi' Japan, and occurs also 

 off Florida. It creeps about on particular alcyonar- 

 ians. A curious cold-water form, Tjalfiella, also with- 

 out combs, is found in Greenland waters creeping 

 about on the deep-water pennatulid Umhellnla. Rec- 

 ognizing a nearly sessile comb jelly that has no combs 

 is a challenge even to the specialist. The affinities of 

 Tjalfiella were revealed when little cydippid larvae 

 were found in brood pouches on the upper surface. 



Comb Jellies without 

 Tentacles iciassNuda) 



The beroid ctenophores, so called from the name 

 of the most important genus, Bero'e, have no traces 

 of tentacles, either in adult or larva. They are some- 

 what flattened, and are variously described as thim- 

 ble-shaped, barrel-like, or mitre-shaped. The many 

 fine branches of the digestive canals make a con- 

 spicuous and decorative pattern. At the open end is 

 a very large mouth, and as the animal propels itself 

 about by the beating of its combs, it sucks in sizable 

 prey, often comb jellies nearly as large as itself. 

 Beroe is thimble-shaped and up to 6 inches long. It 

 is found in all seas, and in cold waters is of a delicate 

 pink or lavender color. 



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