The venom proteome of three common scyphozoan jellyfishes (Chrysaora caliparea, Cyanea nozakii and Lychnorhiza malayensis) (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from the coastal waters of India.

The jellyfish venom stored in nematocysts contains highly toxic compounds comprising of polypeptides, enzymes and other proteins, which form their chemical defence armoury against predators. We have characterized the proteome of crude venom extract from three bloom-forming scyphozoan jellyfish along the south-west coast of India, Chrysaora caliparea, Cyanea nozakii and Lychnorhiza malayensis using a Quadrupole-Time of Flight (Q/TOF) mass spectrometry analysis. The most abundant toxin identified from Chrysaora caliparea and Lychnorhiza malayensis is similar to the pore-forming toxins and metalloproteinases. A protective antioxidant enzyme called peroxiredoxin was found abundantly in Cyanea nozakii. Metalloproteinase identified from the C. caliparea shows similarity with the venom of pit viper (Bothrops pauloensis), while that of L. malayensis was similar to the venom of snakes such as the Bothrops insularis and Bothrops asper. Kininogen-1 is a secreted protein, identified for the first time from the jellyfish L. malayensis. The proteome analysis of Cyanea nozakii, Chrysaora caliparea and Lychnorhiza malayensis contained 20, 12, 8 unique proteins, respectively. Our study characterized the proteome map of crude venom extract from L. malayensis and C. caliparea for the first time, and the venom profile is compared with published information elsewhere. Proteomic data from this study has been made available in the public domain.

New records of two sponge-associated species of Upogebia Leach, 1814 from southern India (Decapoda: Gebiidea: Upogebiidae): U. hexaceras (Ortmann, 1894) and U. nithyanandan (Sakai, Türkay amp; Al Aidaroos, 2015) resurrected from the synonymy of U. balmaorum Ngoc-Ho, 1990.

Two species of the mud shrimp genus Upogebia Leach, 1814 (Gebiidea: Upogebiidae) are recorded from India for the first time based on material from Tamil Nadu: U. hexaceras (Ortmann, 1894) and U. nithyanandan (Sakai, Türkay Al Aidaroos, 2015). Both were found in burrows in an unidentified sponge. Upogebia nithyanandan is resurrected as a valid species from the synonymy of U. balmaorum Ngoc-Ho, 1990, recently proposed by Dworschak Poore (2018). The two species are fully described and illustrated on the basis of the newly collected specimens, and diagnostic characters for species recognition are discussed.