''Solmissus'', or dinner plate jellyfish, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of hydrozoans. Its species are unique among cnidarians in that they actively hunt for

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

as opposed to passively waiting for

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

to pass by. They are found in the deep waters of Monterey Bay,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. They are most likely to be found in the deep sea, mid water (). They grow to be in diameter. These hydrozoans feed on gelatinous

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

, including salps and doliolids,

ctenophore Ctenophora (; ctenophore ; ) comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and ...

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

, and

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s. However, Solmissus may be limited to feeding on soft-bodied prey by the type of nematocysts on their tentacles (Mills).

Species list

The genus ''Solmissus'' contains the following species:''Solmissus''
World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 6 November 2011. * ''Solmissus albescens'' (Gegenbaur, 1857) * ''Solmissus incisa'' (Fewkes, 1886) * ''Solmissus marshalli'' Agassiz & Mayer, 1902

Invalid species

* ''Solmissus atlantica'' Zamponi, 1983

axon inquirendum An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

* ''Solmissus bleekii'' Haeckel, 1879

* ''Solmissus faberi'' Haeckel, 1879

References

*Mills, C. E. (november 1988). In Situ Observations of the Behavior of Mesopelagic Solmissus Narcomedusae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa)Cla. Volume 43, Number 3, Pp. 739-751. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/1988/00000043/00000003/art00030 Cuninidae Hydrozoan genera Bioluminescent cnidarians {{Hydrozoa-stub