Biodiversity & Conservation

A comb jelly - Beroe cucumis

A comb jelly

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Distribution map

Beroe cucumis recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Beroe cucumis is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ctenophora Sea gooseberries & comb jellies
Class Nuda
Authority Fabricius, 1780
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Recorded off the west and northern coasts of Scotland and the coasts of Wales. Possibly under recorded.
Habitat information icon Habitat information The comb jelly Beroe cucumis is a pelagic species.
Text page icon Description Beroe cucumis is a medium-sized, sack-shaped comb jelly. It may reach up to 15 cm in length. It is completely transparent in colour. It swims with eight longitudinal combs that give the comb jellies (ctenophores) their characteristic shimmering appearance. These combs consist of plates of transverse rows of hairs that beat in waves downwards, which produces the shimmering effect. These plates are phosphorescent at night.
Identifying features
  • Transparent sack-shaped body up to 15 cm in length.
  • Radially symmetrical with secondary bilateral symmetry.
  • Eight longitudinal rows of combs of equal length.
  • No tentacles.
  • Branched gastrovascular system unlike Beroe gracilis.
Additional information icon Additional information Beroe cucumis is carnivorous and feeds on other comb jellies, particularly Bolinopsis infundibulum. Instead of sticky tentacles or large oral lobes, the large mouth is used to engulf prey whole (Greve, 1975).

This review can be cited as follows:

Morvan Barnes 2008. Beroe cucumis. A comb jelly. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 31/07/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2753>