Freshwater medusae Limnocnida indica Annandale, 1911 in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Dubare Reserve Forest and Shivanasamudram in Karnataka, India, with a commentary note on the exotic Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880
Main Article Content
Abstract
Fifty years after the first report of freshwater medusae (Limnocnida indica) from Cauvery River in Krishanrajasagar Reservoir, there has been only one other published report of its occurrence in the Cauvery Basin at Hemavathi Reservoir, Kodagu District. Recent interest in freshwater photography has revealed three more locations in the Cauvery Basin where medusae are found. Medusae are often observed at these locations but are erroneously identified as invasive species. According to published literature, this is true of Craspedacusta sowerbii, a cosmopolitan species with only three confirmed reports from India. All these reports were from artificial structures such as ponds and aquaria. The native Limnocnida and exotic Craspedacusta can be distinguished from each other visually and with respect to temporal variation in the occurrence of their free swimming medusae. This short note is intended to shed light on the status, distribution, and field identification of L. indica, a species endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Agharkar, S.P. (1913). Further notes on the habits and distribution of Limnocnida indica. Records of the Indian Museum 9: 247–249.
Ahmad, M.F., N.S. Sen., K.P. Mishra & A.K. Bharti (1987). A new species of Limnocnida (Limnomedusae, Coelenterata) from a freshwater aquarium in India. Hydrobiologia, 144(1): 33–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00008049
Annandale, N. (1911). The occurrence of a fresh-water medusa (Limnocnida) in Indian streams. Nature 87(2179): 144–144. https://doi.org/10.1038/087144b0
Birsal, N.R. (1994). Occurrence of Limnocnida indica (Annadale) in the Pandri River (Western Ghats, Karnataka, India), with a note on freshwater medusae of India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 91, 91–94.
Darling, P.S. (1935). Occurrence of Limnocnida in the Periyar lake, Travancore. Nature, 135(3404): 151. https://doi.org/10.1038/135151a0
Dumont, H.J. (1976). Limnocnida nepalensis n. sp.(coelenterata: limnomedusae), a new freshwater medusa from central Nepal, with a discussion of the origin and distribution of the genus. Khumbu Himal 5: 255–262.
Dumont, H.J. (1994). The distribution and ecology of the fresh- and brackish-water medusae of the world. In: Studies on the Ecology of Tropical Zooplankton, Developments in Hydrobiology, 92: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0884-3_1
Fritz, G.B., R.O. Schill, M. Pfannkuchen & F. Brümmer (2007). The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (Limnomedusa: Olindiidae) in Germany, with a brief note on its nomenclature. Journal of Limnology, 66 (1), 54–59. https://doi.org/10.4081/jlimnol.2007.54
Iyengar, H.D.R. & Venkatesh (1955). Occurrence of the freshwater medusa Limnocnida indica Annandale, in Thunga river near Shimoga town, Mysore State. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 53: 151.
Jankowski, T. (2000). Chemical composition and biomass parameters of a population of Craspedacusta sowerbii Lank, 1880 (Cnidaria: Limnomedusa). Journal of Plankton Research 22(7): 1329–1340.
Jankowski, T. (2001). The freshwater medusae of the world–a taxonomic and systematic literature study with some remarks on other inland water jellyfish. Hydrobiologia 462(1–3): 91–113. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013126015171
Jankowski, T. & H.T. Ratte (2001). On the influence of the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii on the zooplankton community. Internationale Vereinigung für theoretische und angewandte Limnologie: Verhandlungen 27(6): 3287–3290. https://doi.org/10.1080/03680770.1998.11902433
Jankowski, T., T. Strauss & H.T. Ratte (2005). Trophic interactions of the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii. Journal of Plankton Research 27(8): 811–823. https://doi.org/10.1093/plankt/fbi055
Jankowski, T., A.G. Collins & R. Campbell (2007). Global diversity of inland water cnidarians. Hydrobilogica 595: 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8259-7_4
Joshi, M.V. & G.T. Tonapi (1965). A new record of freshwater medusa from India. Current Science 34(23): 665–666.
Jones, S. (1951). On the occurrence of the freshwater medusa, Limnocnida indica Annandale, in the western drainage of the Sahyadris. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 49: 799–801.
Kramp, P.L. (1950). Freshwater medusae in China, pp. 165–184. In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London – Vol. 120(1). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 187pp. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1950.tb01469.x
Krishnamurthy, D.R. (1951). On the occurrence of the freshwater medusa in the Krishnarajasagar on the Cauvery. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 50: 955–956.
Malhotra, Y.R., P.I., Duda & M.K. Jyothi (1976). Mansariella lacustris, a new freshwater medusa from jammu, india. Current Science 45: 190–191.
Manna, R.K., A.K. Das, D.N. Singh & M.F. Khan (2005). Occurrence of fresh water jelly-fish, Limnocnida indica (Annadale) in Hemavathi reservoir and its limnological perspective. Indian Journal of Fisheries 52(4): 483–487.
Oualid, J.A., B. Iazza, N.M. Tamsouri, F.E. Aamri, A. Moukrim & P.J. López–González (2019). Hidden diversity under morphology–based identifications of widespread invasive species: the case of the ‘well–known hydromedusa Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester 1880. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 42(2): 301–316. https://doi.org/10.32800/abc.2019.42.0301
Sarkar, P.K. & S.N. Mude (2010). A new site for the freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii. Current Science 99(9): 1165.
Sreenivasan, N., N. Mahesh & R. Raghavan (2021). Freshwater fishes of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17470–17476. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6778.13.1.17470-17476
Ramakrishna, P.A., B.S. Bhimachar & M.K. Subramaniam (1950). Occurrence of the freshwater medusa (Limnocnida indica) in south west India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 49: 318–319.
Rao, H.S. (1931). The supposed resting stage of Limnocnida indica Annandale. Nature 127(3217): 971–971. https://doi.org/10.1038/127971a0
Riyas, A. & A.B. Kumar (2017). Record of freshwater jellyfish blooms of invasive Craspedacusta sowerbii Lankester, 1880 (Hydrozoa, Limnomedusae) from Kerala, India. Journal of Aquatic Biology, Fisheries 5: 154–159.
Saravanan, R., I. Syed, K.K. Joshi & A.K.A. Nazar (2018). Diversity of freshwater jellyfish in India with a note on the hydromedusae from Kodaikanal lake. Report of the Conference: International Seminar on Coastal and Marine Diodiversity and Conservation, Parangipettai.
Stadel, O. (1961). Neuere Kenntnisse über Ökologie und Verbreitung der Süßwassermeduse Craspedacusta sowerbii. Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein 5: 157–192.
Stefani, F., B. Leoni, A. Marieni & L. Garibaldi (2010). A new record of Craspedacusta sowerbii, Lankester 1880 (Cnidaria, Limnomedusae) in northern Italy. Journal of Limnology 69(1): 189–192. https://doi.org/10.3274/JL10-69-1-N1