Sminthea arctica Hartlaub, 1909
The most common gelatinous zooplankter in midwater depths
Size
- body upto 2 cm
Color & Characteristics
- clear translucent, with strong diffraction of white light through muscle tissues creating a rainbow effect when the light shines through it’s body
- 8 tentacles
- 8 radial canals
Habitat
- Primarily Arctic, with records in the subarctic Atlantic
- Mesopelagic, concentrated between 500 and 1000m with vertical range extended from ~100m to over 2100m
- Hundreds of Sminthea arctica can be observed in a single ROV dive
Feeding
- Diet is unknown
Life cycle
- Details are unknown, but likely holoplanktonic, without a polyp stage
Page Author: Kevin Raskoff & Russ Hopcroft
Created: Aug 20, 2010
