Abstract:
Jellyfishes (Phylum Cnidaria) are important as a delicacy, ornamental
animal, collagen source and bio-indicator of climatic changes. In spite of
this, jellyfishes have negative impacts on fisheries and tourist industries too,
where they clog fishing nets and sting recreational water users respectively.
Only a few jellyfish species have been recorded from the Sri Lankan coastal
waters. In the present study, jellyfish species reported in the coastal waters
of Sri Lanka during January 2017 to April 2018 are presented here. From a
systematic survey, jellyfishes were collected and preserved in 5% formalin
for taxonomic identification. Altogether forty species were identified based
on their morphological features using standard identification guides. Of
these species, Chrysaora chinensis Vanhöffen, 1888, Crambionella orsini
Vanhöffen, 1888 and Chironex indrasaksajiae Sucharitakul, 2017, were
recorded for the first-time from the Sri Lankan waters. Chrysaora chinensis
(n= 432) was found along the entire coastal belt of the country, C. orsini
(n=5) was found from northern, northwestern and southeastern coasts while
C. indrasaksajiae (n=4) was found only from eastern coast during the study
period. Among the three species, C. orsini was the largest, having a bell
diameter of ~200 mm, followed by C. chinensis and C. indrasaksajiae
having bell diameters of ~140 mm and ~110 mm respectively. Of the three
species, C. chinensis and C. indrasaksajiae are highly hazardous to human
health while C. orsini is a harmless, edible jellyfish which is heavily fished
for export market from the southeast coastal waters of Sri Lanka.
