Ecology Summary - Chironex fleckeri

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Ecology of Chironex fleckeri

Main Ref.	Grzimek, B., 2004
Remarks	Usually shallow water around creeks or mangrove outlets; often reported swimming around pier pilings in search of food (Ref. 3078). Polyps located in situ attached to underside of rocks near a river (Ref. 116835). Coastal inhabitant with alternating life stages: sessile polyps and small medusae in creek systems, while sexually mature highly mobile adult forms are in near-shore at depths less than 5 m. Strong swimmers. To ingest prey, it usually stops swimming and orients it dorsal section of the bell downwards. Forages in mangroves from November to March in Darwin, and feeds predominantly on prawns, while very huge medusa capture fish as well. Avoids habitats where entanglement of their tentacles is at risk (Ref. 116578).

Main Ref.

Grzimek, B., 2004

Remarks

Usually shallow water around creeks or mangrove outlets; often reported swimming around pier pilings in search of food (Ref. 3078). Polyps located in situ attached to underside of rocks near a river (Ref. 116835). Coastal inhabitant with alternating life stages: sessile polyps and small medusae in creek systems, while sexually mature highly mobile adult forms are in near-shore at depths less than 5 m. Strong swimmers. To ingest prey, it usually stops swimming and orients it dorsal section of the bell downwards. Forages in mangroves from November to March in Darwin, and feeds predominantly on prawns, while very huge medusa capture fish as well. Avoids habitats where entanglement of their tentacles is at risk (Ref. 116578).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Chironex fleckeri may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Grzimek, B., 2004
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Keesing, J.K., J. Strzelecki, M. Stowar, M. Wakeford, K.J. Miller, L.A. Gershwin and D. Liu, 2016
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Keesing, J.K., J. Strzelecki, M. Stowar, M. Wakeford, K.J. Miller, L.A. Gershwin and D. Liu, 2016

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	4.07	0.71			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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