The picture shows the form of The Fuyuan peach blossom jellyfish (showing that the main spoke tentacle is longer). Courtesy of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Kunming, June 28 (Xinhua) -- On the 28th, a reporter confirmed from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the unknown aquatic organisms found in Fuyuan County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, were tested and identified by relevant experts of the Institute as the endangered "Suo's peach blossom jellyfish."
Peach blossom jellyfish is an endangered ancient coelenterate animal in the world, with a survival history of at least 600 million years, and its preciousness is comparable to that of giant pandas, and it is known as a "living fossil" in water. At present, the classification of peach blossom jellyfish by domestic and foreign scholars is very controversial. There are three recognized effective species of peach blossom jellyfish in the world, namely Sox's peach blossom jellyfish, Yi's peach blossom jellyfish and Chinese peach blossom jellyfish.
The picture shows the local morphology of Fuyuan peach blossom (showing tubular balance sac). Courtesy of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pan Xiaofu, senior engineer of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that China, as the country with the most wide distribution of peach blossom jellyfish, has found peach blossom jellyfish in 19 provinces, cities and districts. At present, 12 species (subspecies) of the genus Peach blossom jellyfish have been reported. However, due to the wide distribution of peach blossom jellyfish, the individual differences between various landmarks are large, and some specimens named after different places may be uncertain in identification due to the limitations of sampling specimens, individual contractility, male and female differences, and the shape and color of gonads.
The peach blossom jellyfish found in Fuyuan this time, the main spoke tentacle is longer than other tentacles, the balance sac is tubular, and the barbed silk sac on the tentacle is papillary and arranged in a circular arrangement, these morphological characteristics are consistent with the Sox's peach blossom jellyfish.
The picture shows the morphology and arrangement of the thorn sacs of Fuyuan peach blossom jellyfish. Courtesy of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
At the same time, the researchers extracted the DNA of the Fuyuan peach blossom jellyfish and used the coi gene for species identification, showing that it was 99.53% similar to the Soxlea peach blossom jellyfish, and was determined to be the Sox's peach blossom jellyfish.
"Peach blossom jellyfish live in clean rivers and lakes, and the summer and autumn seasons from June to October occur the most. After the end of October or the beginning of November, the number of peach blossom jellyfish will decline rapidly, and then disappear. Pan Xiaofu said that the phenomenon of peach blossom jellyfish appearing in the same place for many years (or every year) is very rare. (End)