Research Interests

Christopher’s research to date has largely focussed on the ecology of box jellyfishes (Cubozoa). Specifically, his research has focussed on statoliths – a hard crystal-like structure analogous to fish otoliths. He was the first to apply Laser Ablation – Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to these bassanite structures and his PhD Statoliths of cubozoan jellyfishes: their utility to discriminate taxa and elucidate population ecology was the first application of the proven fisheries techniques of shape analysis and elemental chemistry to jellyfishes; showing that cubozoan statoliths can be robustly used to assist with species and population identification.

Christopher’s broader research interests are in coastal and oceanic ecology, and is recently involved with coral reef surveys assessing impacts of coral bleaching.

He has completed his PhD and is presently working with Australia’s Antarctic Division

Publications:

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2016) Discriminating populations of medusae (Chironex fleckeri, Cubozoa) using statolith microchemistry. Marine and Freshwater Research. DOI: 10.1071/MF16104

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2016) Statolith morphometrics as a tool to distinguish among populations of three cubozoan species. Hydrobiologia. DOI: 10.1007/s10750-016-2949-6

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2016) Statolith morphometrics can discriminate among taxa of Cubozoan jellyfishes. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0155719. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155719

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2016) Data from: Statolith morphometrics can discriminate among taxa of Cubozoan jellyfishes. Dryad Digital Repository. DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n14ph

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2016) The influence of salinity on box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri, Cubozoa) statolith elemental chemistry. Marine Biology 163:103. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-016-2867-1

Kingsford MJ, Mooney CJ (2014) The ecology of box jellyfishes (Cubozoa). In: Pitt KA, Lucas CH (eds) Jellyfish Blooms. Springer Netherlands, p 267-302. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-7015-7_12

Mooney CJ, Kingsford MJ (2012) Sources and movements of Chironex fleckeri medusae using statolith elemental chemistry. Hydrobiologia 690:269–277. DOI: 10.1007/s10750-012-1049-5