The role of hyperiid parasites as a trophic link between jellyfish and fishes.

The trophic interactions between the scyphozoan medusa Chrysaora plocamia and the palm ruff Seriolella violacea were investigated off northern Chile and showed that large numbers of hyperiid amphipods parasitizing the medusa may channel energy back to the fishes, which feed on the parasites. The biomass of hyperiids eaten by the fish was a function of the biomass of hyperiids parasitizing the medusa. This temporally available food supply may enhance fish recruitment. The large number of hyperiids parasitizing diverse jellyfish species represents a missing trophic link in current efforts to understand the effects of jellyfish blooms on marine food webs.

First record of encysted metacercariae in hydrozoan jellyfishes and ctenophores of the southern Atlantic.

Three species of pelagic coelenterates and ctenophores captured in Mar del Plata port, Buenos Aires, Argentina, were examined for digenean parasites. Encysted metacercariae were observed and collected. Cysts were found in the mesoglea of the hydromedusae Phialidium sp. and Liriope tetraphylla, and in the ectenophore Mnemiopsis macradyi. The morphology of the worms resembles that of the lepocreadiid digeneans. This is the first record for a metacercaria encysted in hydromedusae or ctenophores.