Narcomedusa. Medusa stage (hydromedusa) of a hydrozoan (Solmaris sp.). Hydromedusae are the sexually reproductive stage of hydrozoan cnidarians. Hydrozoa normally live in large single-sex (dioecious) colonies made up of thousands of individual specialised polyps. The reproductive polyps bud-off asexually produced medusae. However,Narcomedusae often have either no,or a very reduced,polyp stage. When mature,medusae release gametes (sex cells) freely into the ocean. Gametes of opposite sexes combine to form free-swimming larval zygotes. These either settle on a suitable substrate,or swim and develop into another medusae or polyp directly. Photographed off the coast of Reunion Island,Indian Ocean | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / Caron, David / Look At Sciences |
Bildgröße: | 2695 px × 3500 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: |
|