Fig. 4
From: From ctenophores to scyphozoans: parasitic spillover of a burrowing sea anemone
Life cycle and spillover of the burrowing sea anemone Edwardsiella carnea. (a). adult female and male polyps release gametes to the water column. (b). a free-swimming pre-parasitic planula is formed following fertilization. (c). the planula infects the ctenophore host Mnemiopsis leidyi and develops into vermiform parasitic stage. (d). a post-parasitic planula leaves the ctenophore host into the water column (e) where it can either settle in the seabed (f) and develop into a polyp (a) or reinfect another ctenophore or infect schyphozoan host Rhopilema nomadica or Rhizostoma pulmo (hypothetical spillover) (g-h). a post-parasitic planula may leave the schyphozoan host, traveling in the water column (i) where it can settle on the seabed (f) and develop into a polyp. The dashed line represents an alternate pathway.
