Venus girdle
(Redirected from Cestum)
Venus girdle | |
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Photographed in Hawaii | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Ctenophora |
Class: | Tentaculata |
Order: | Cestida |
Family: | Cestidae |
Genus: | Cestum Lesueur, 1813 |
Species: | C. veneris
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Binomial name | |
Cestum veneris Lesueur, 1813
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The Venus girdle (Cestum veneris) is a comb jelly in the family Cestidae. It is the only member of its genus, Cestum,[1] and is also the largest of all known ctenophores.
Description[edit]
Venus girdles resemble transparent ribbons with iridescent edges. They may grow up to a metre in total length. Canals run the length of the ribbon in which bioluminesce activates when disturbed.[2]
Distribution[edit]
This species is pelagic and is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide in midwater.[2]
Ecology[edit]
These animals swim horizontally using muscular contractions as well as the beating of the comb rows. The oral edge leads. They eat small crustaceans.[2]
References[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cestum veneris.
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Wikispecies has information related to Cestum veneris.
- ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Cestum veneris Lesueur, 1813". marinespecies.org. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
- ^ a b c Wrobel D. & Mills C. 2003. Has no bell, no tentacles,found in the Mediterranean Sea. Pacific Coast Pelagic Invertebrates: a guide to the common gelatinous animals. Sea Challengers. ISBN 0-930118-23-5