Scyphozoa have attracted the attention of many types of people.
Naturalists watch their graceful locomotion. Fishermen may dread the
swarms which can prevent fishing or eat larval fish. Bathers retreat
from the water if they are stung. People from some Asiatic countries eat
the medusae. Comparative physiologists examine them as possibly simple
models for the functioning of various systems. This book integrates data
from those and other investigations into a functional biology of
scyphozoa. It will emphasize the wide range of adaptive responses
possible in these morphologically relatively simple animals. The book
will concentrate on the research of the last 35 years, partly because
there has been a rapid expansion of knowledge during that period, and
partly because much of the previous work was summarized by books
published between 1961 and 1970. Bibliographies of papers on scyphozoa
were included in Mayer (1910) and Kramp (1961). Taxonomic diagnoses are
also included in those monographs, as well as in a monograph on the
scyphomedusae of the USSR published by Naumov (Naumov, 1961). Most
impor- tantly, a genenttion of scyphozoan workers has used as its
'bible' the monograph by F.S.Russell (1970) The Medusae of the British
Isles. In spite of its restrictive title, his book reviews most of the
information on the biology of scyphozoa up to that date.
