Various distribution patterns of green fluorescence in small hydromedusae

Abstract

Twelve distributional patterns of fluorescent body parts, including complete non-fluorescence, were found in diverse taxonomic groups of small hydromedusae (≤21 mm in umbrellar diameter) collected in 2008-2010 in Tanabe Bay and a freshwater pond in Tanabe city, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, and in Suma harbor, Kobe city, Hyogo Prefecture. Only three of the green fluorescence patterns have been described until now. Particular fluorescence patterns may have originated convergently more than once within this taxonomic group. In Liriope tetraphylla the distribution of fluorescence changes during development, and the eggs of Clytia languida also display fluorescence.