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Box Jelly Video Stock Footage
Copula sivickisi is a very small species of jellyfish, the medusa growing to about 10 mm (0.4 in) in diameter. The bell is a more "boxy" shape than that of the umbrella-like true jellyfishes. The eight gonads can be seen inside the transparent bell. In males these are orange hemispherical structures near the apex of the bell, and in females they are white-speckled, leaf-like structures. There is a central manubrium, a transparent tubular structure hanging down from the centre of the underside of the bell and there are four slender tentacles hanging from the rim, each banded with orange. In mature females, the edge of the bell is patterned with orange-brown markings.
Copula sivickisi has twenty-four eyes grouped on four stalked rhopalia situated on the rim of the bell. It is attracted to light and feeds on zooplankton including phosphorescent organisms. Its typical feeding mechanism is to rise to the surface and then sink through the water with its tentacles extended to catch prey. Typical prey items are copepods, hooded shrimps, zoea larvae and the bioluminescent dinoflagellate Noctiluca, all of which are present near the water surface at night. Learn more about Box Jelly
View related species in family group: Jellyfish
Animalia: Cnidaria: Carybdeida: Cubozoa: Tripedaliidae: Copula sivickisi