Bassia (hydrozoan)

Bassia Bassenis is in the Phylum Cnidaria, and in the Class Hydrozoa, which includes other organisms such as the Portuguese man of war, and hydras.

Bassia Bassensis is in the Kingdom Animalia, the Phylum Cnidaria, the Class Hydrozoa, the Subclass Hydroidolina,  the Order Siphonophorae, the Suborder Calycophorae, the Family Abylidae, the Subfamily Ablyopsinae, the Genus Bassia.

• The species has a bluish tint on the ridges of the nectaphores, this is part of the medusa and help with the propulsion of the animal.
• The species is covered in gelatinous sheets that form a “box” around the mouth of the organism. The organism follows the anatomy of other siphonophores and cnidarians.
• The two larval forms of euxoxid and polygastric have 2 dissimilar nectaphores, posterior and anterior, which means that at these stages the nectaphores will be inside the organism, or the outside.[5]
• the nectaphores are rigid, and have ridges and no bumps.[5]
• The animal is polyhedral.
• Has four (4) main ridges which end in short basal teeth.[5]

The Bassia Bassensis is a monotypic siphonophore that is common in warmer and tropical waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, specifically around the African and Asian coasts.[6] 

• Common in the HCS(Humboldt Current System),[7] along with other gelatinous zooplankton off the coast of South America, where 3 currents mix together. Are found all over the world, found more in the gulf[8] and Atlantic, than in the Pacific, and are generally found in the top 50 meters of the ocean, or the epipelagic zone.[9]

• The organism is considered diploblastic, and has 2 distinct tissue layers. These layers are made up by the ectoderm(epidermis), which is the top layer, and then separated by the mesoglea, which is a gelatinous substance that acts as a hydrostatic skeleton in cnidarians. The inner layer is the entoderm (gastrodermis).
• The organism has radial symmetry, which means that the organism has similar body parts around a central axis, which is a mouth in Bassia Bassensis.
• All cnidarians including Bassia Bassensis have a gastrovascular cavity which is called the Coeletron, and is considered the only body cavity in Cnidarians and acts as both mouth and anus.
  • The coeletron is just the gastrovascular cavity of the Bassia Bassensis which is where the food is digested in these organisms. The central axis is the Bassia Bassensis is the mouth, where the Bassia Bassensis eats food and excrements waste. This organism is considered an oral-aboral, which means the organism has an oral surface (mouth) and an aboral surface, which is the side where the mouth is not located. Also known as the underside, or the side where the mouth is no located.[10]  
• The mouth of Bassia Bassensis is surrounded by a layer of tentacles. These tentacles are called cnidae and are used to sting and capture prey, but the stinging cells within cnidae are called nematocysts.
• Nematocysts are small trigger-like cells that hold toxins and are used to sting and capture prey.
• Bassia Bassensis are between 6–8 cm in height.

• The digestion is both extracellular and intercellular once the food enters the gut. In the gut the food is digested extracellular, and once the food enters cells the food is broken down into nutrients through intracellular digestion.
• Bassia Bassensis eats mostly copepods.

• Since Bassia Bassensis  is a primary consumer and its diets strongly consist of plankton and phytoplankton, they are a direct link between primary producers and secondary consumers.
• Bassia Bassensis are one of the greatest carnivores of copepods. They specifically eat copepods that are .4-1.2mm tall.[9]
• They are also one of the most abundant species of siphonophores.
• Siphonophore populations such as Bassia Bassensis are impacted by small variations in salinity and temperature, these gelatinous siphonophores heavily increase in temperatures below 28 degrees Celsius, and dwindle in temperatures greater than 28.5 degrees.[11]
• Bassia Bassensis plays an important role in the Mejillones Peninsula, they are the most important secondary consumer within this peninsula, and siphonophores are also the most important secondary consumers.[9]
• Siphonophores follow their prey and can eat up 2.3-69.9% of copepod biomass
  • Enough food availability in the concerned areas might mitigate the negative effect of low or high salinity waters, given the positive and significant relationship between siphonophore WDV and zooplankton wet weight biomass.[12]

• Most Cnidarians including Bassia Bassensius have two possible forms, a polyp or medusa form. Bassia Bassensius is considered to live in a medusa form, because the mouth and tentacles are facing downward.
• Most siphonophores such as Bassia Bassensius can reproduce both sexually and asexually.
• The reproduction of this animal is mostly unknown.