Siphonophores - Scientific Observation Print - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Reproduction engraving of: Siphonophores

Original title Siphonophorae - Staatsquallen

Poster of Strobalia - Cnidarians of the class Siphonophora or Siphonophora (Order Physalia, Physonectae)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Cnidarian Phylum (Cnidaria)
Class Siphonophores (Siphonophorae)
Order Physonectae

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Siphonophorae - Siphonophores :

Fig. 1–9. *Strobalia eupola* (Haeckel). The beautiful siphonophore in this plate was captured in 1881 in the Indian Ocean and drawn from nature at Matara, on the south coast of the island of Ceylon. It is closely related to the European *Forskalia*, as well as to the *Discolabe quadrigata* illustrated in Plate 37. The entire body, shown actual size in Fig. 1, forms a colony of floating jellyfish (Cormus) consisting of several thousand individuals, medusoid individuals. In nature, these individuals are transparent, very sensitive, and mobile; the major part of the glassy, gelatinous, and very delicate body is colorless or slightly bluish; some parts of the individuals are red (from blood red to reddish brown). The entire colony consists of two main sections: the upper part, the floating body (Nectosoma), and the lower part, the feeding body (Siphosoma). The division of labor (ergonomics), which is highly developed in all siphonophores, has led to a marked morphological differentiation (polymorphism) of the many individuals that make up these curious pelagic colonies. The floating body serves only for locomotion, while the feeding body is dedicated to feeding and reproduction. The floating body (Nectosome) of this species has the shape of an inverted cone; its numerous swimming bells (Nectophores) are arranged in a spiral around the central reddish stem, giving the whole the appearance of a fir cone with spirally arranged buds. Each swimming bell is a medusoid individual, without a stomach or mouth, but with a highly developed muscular layer. At the top of the floating assembly is a second flotation organ, the swim bladder (Pneumatophore); it has at its top an opening through which air can be evacuated at will (like the opening of a balloon). This central opening is surrounded by an eight-pointed red pigmented star, probably sensitive to light and acting as an eye (Fig. 2). The feeding body (Siphosoma) is about twice as large as the floating body and covered with thousands of cartilaginous, scale-like protective plates. These mobile plates (Bractes) serve as shields for the other delicate individuals of the feeding body, which can retract completely under their protection. The scale-like protective plates have serrated edges and a prominent median ridge; they are considered to be transformed gelatinous umbrellas of rudimentary medusae. They are attached to the central stalk (Troncus), which appears as a red thread crossing the axis of the entire colony. Similarly, the other individuals of the feeding body are attached to the central stalk; they are not scattered randomly, but organized into specific groups of individuals, segments or Cormidia. The Cormidia are arranged at regular intervals and together form a spiral, like a spiral staircase around the central stem. This animal colony functions in perfect communism. Each segment (Cormidium, Fig. 3–5) is composed of five different types of individuals: a siphon (Siphon), a tactile (Palpon), a duct (Cyston), and two types of gonophores, male and female; the latter are numerous and form two clusters: a male cluster and a female cluster (Figs. 4 and 5). The division of labor among these five types of individuals is such that the siphon (or "feeding polyp") is intended for feeding and digestion, the palpon (or "sensory person") for touch, the cyston (or "evacuation duct") for the excretion of useless substances; these three forms are polypoid, to be distinguished from the medusoids, whose umbrella is reduced. The other two forms, the gonophores, are medusoid individuals with an umbrella; their mouthless stomach sac produces sperm in males (Fig. 9) and eggs in females (Figs. 7 and 8).

Species present on the Siphonophores - Strobalia naturalist board :

• Strobalia cupola