Neritic jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Cubozoa and Scyphozoa) from the coast of Rio Grande do Norte state, northeast of Brazil

Abstract

For the entire Brazilian coast, there are 22 published records of scyphozoans. On the other hand, only 35 species of cubozoans were described worldwide, four of them reported for the Brazilian coast. However, little is known about the species of cubozoans and scyphozoans in the Northeastern states of Brazil. The aim of this study was to perform a survey of the jellyfish (Cnidaria: Cubozoa and Scyphozoa) on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeast of Brazil. Specimens were collected using trawl net on beaches in the counties of Natal (in 2003) and Tibaú (in 2004). For the Rio Grande do Norte coast there were few records of large jellyfish, and new records of the following cubozoan and scyphozoan species were verified: Chiropsalmus quadrumanus; Chrysaora lactea; Lychnorhiza lucerna and Stomolophus meleagris. The studied species had their distributions expanded in the coast to the State of Rio Grande do Norte.