Vampyrocrossota Explained

Vampyrocrossota is a genus of hydrozoans of the family Rhopalonematidae.^[1] The genus only contains one species, Vampyrocrossota childressi. Unlike many hydromedusae, these animals do not have a sessile stage. Rather, they spend their entire lives in the water column as plankton. It is the only known species with a medusa that is truly black.^[1]

Distribution

Vampyrocrossota childressi has only been found in the Pacific Ocean off California and British Columbia.^[2] This deep-sea animal lives between 600–1475 m depth.^[1]

Etymology

This species was named after James J. Childress, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara who helped discover this jellyfish.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Thuesen, E.V. 1993. Vampyrocrossota childressi, a new genus and species of black medusa from the bathypelagic zone off California (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae). Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 106 (1): 190-194. http://biostor.org/cache/pdf/a3/f3/cc/a3f3cc72a73958a5bc0da92920424458.pdf
2. Thuesen, E.V., 2003. Crossota millsae (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae), a new species of viviparous hydromedusa from the deep sea off California and Hawaii. Zootaxa, 309: 1-12 http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2003f/zt00309.pdf
3. Web site: Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. 28 July 2012.