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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Semaeostomaeida
Family: Ulmaridae
Scientific name: Aurelia aurita
Norwegian: glassmanet
The umbrella is flat and with a diameter usually ranging from 25 to 40 cm. There
are usually four, but sometimes 7 or 8 horseshoe-shaped gonads. These are very
conspicuous, due to the color (red, pink, magenta or blue) and the transparent bell.
The moon jelly feeds on plankton that sticks to its surface. During late fall or early
winter it disintegrate, as many other jellyfish. The offspring survives the winter as
larvae attached to the bottom. By asexual reproduction it forms stacks of platters
which are released in the spring to start their medusa phase.
Habitat:
It is usually found close to the surface, but may go deep under harsh weather
conditions.
Distribution:
This is a cosmopolitan found in northern boreal as well as tropical water. It is the
most common jellyfish in the North Sea.
http://www.seawater.no/fauna/cnidaria/aurita.html
Domain - Eukarya
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Cnidaria
Class - Scyphozoa
Order - Semaestomeae
Family - Ulmaridae
Genus - Aurelia
Species - Aurelia aurita
Picture by Tom Volk
The figure above shows where Aurelia aurita are placed in the metazoan phylogenic
tree. Metazoans are simply multicellular organisms with differentiable tissues and
organs usually including a nervous system and digestive cavity.
Recall from above that Aurelia aurita is a scyphozoan belonging to the phylum
Cnidaria. The phylum Cnidaria is very closely related to the phylum Ctenophora
which consists of comb jellies. Both of these organisms are placed seperately from
the phylum Porifera (sponges) becasue the are eumetazoans. This means they
have a digestive tract while sponges do not. Moon Jellies do not have bilateral
symmetry and are thus not grouped with protostomes or deuterostomes.
Ultimately, sponges, comb jellies, moon jellies, and protostomes and deuterostomes
all relate back to a common protist ancestor.
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/shull_step/classification.htm
As its name suggests, the common jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) is the most common
jellyfish species on British shores (2). The body is a saucer shaped 'bell', which is
colourless except for four obvious violet gonads visible in the centre of the
disc (2). The outer edges are fringed with many small tentacles, and four stocky
'arms' surround the mouth (2).
http://www.arkive.org/common-jellyfish/aurelia-aurita/
Taxon
Phylum
Authority
Recent
Cnidaria
(Linnaeus, 1758)
None
synonyms
Recorded
Distribution in
Britain and
Ireland
Aurelia aurita can be found all round the coasts of Britain and Ireland.
Habitat
information
Description
Identifying
features
Additional
information
Umbrella thins towards the edge and has a distinctive fringe of sho
Aurelia aurita has an interesting life history. The sexes are separate, the
oral arms act as a temporary brood chamber holding the eggs until they
planulae attach to hard substratum and develop into tiny sessile animals
immature jellyfish (ephyrae). The ephyrae feed on plankton and will gene
to grow into sexually-reproducing adult medusae (Ruppert & Barnes, 199
Aurelia aurita feed, but not exclusively, on plankton and can at times occ
slow the passage of small boats (Russell, 1970).
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=2687
Moon Jellyfish
Aurelia aurita
Moon Jellyfish Description
The Moon Jellyfish offers several subspecies. It is really impossible though to tell
them apart without taking samples of their DNA. They look too much alike in terms
of their physical appearance, however, they have no sexual reproduction organs
that determine this. Again, it is determined by their DNA profiling.
Before DNA profiling was established though all of the subspecies of the Moon
Jellyfish were lumped into one category. There are still those that argue they should
be but the experts maintain that due to the DNA differences they shouldnt be
considered only one species. This is why you will find conflicting names for them as
well as population numbers. It all comes down to the classifications that are being
used.
Class
Scyphozoa
Order
Semaeostomeae
Family
Ulmaridae
Genus
Aurelia
Conservation
status
Not evaluated
This particular Jellyfish tends to live alone. However, there have been times when
they are known to be in groups known as blooms. This is due to them being at the
mercy of the current and the wind though. That is why they are often found in large
numbers on the shore.
Moon Jellyfish Habitat and Distribution
You will find this particular species of Jellyfish living everywhere in the oceans. They
live in the warm waters as well as those that are cooler. Europe and North America
are the most common locations for them. However, they have also been identified
along the waters of both Canada and New England.
Experts do believe that their numbers have been on the rise for the past couple of
decades. This could be due to the drop in various types of predators in those given
locations. One of the factors that has been believed to kill large numbers of the
Moon Jellyfish though is pollution. They have a thin body so various type of toxic
materials can cause diseases and other health problems that they cant overcome.
The tentacles of the Moon Jellyfish allow it to capture prey. The tentacles have
powerful toxins that immobilize the prey long enough for them to swallow it. They
rely on digestive enzymes in the stomach lining to break down their prey.
The Moon Jellyfish tends to do very well living in captivity under the right conditions.
They will consume brine shrimp in such an environment and survival well on it.
Moon Jellyfish Reproduction
In the summer time the Moon Jellyfish will take part in offering eggs and sperm on a
daily basis. This is a process that will leave them weak and hungry. At the end of
that process they will likely die. They tend to only live about 6 months in the wild
from the time they are a full Jellyfish. This reproduction process can make them
vulnerable to various forms of bacteria too that can end their life sooner.
Moon Jellyfish Predators
There are several known predators of the Moon Jellyfish. They include Sea Turtles
that rely on them for food during their daily lives. However, they also rely heavily on
the Moon Jellyfish to supply them with food during their annual long migrational
journey. Other predators including birds that will feed upon them when they get
close to the shoreline.
Humans are also predators of the Moon Jellyfish. They often assume that they are
just as dangerous as any other type of Jellyfish. They dont like they idea of being in
the water with them. In some heavily populated tourist locations efforts have been
made to limit populations. These locations are worried that they could lose out on
the business of tourists of there are too many Moon Jellyfish around.
http://bioexpedition.com/moon-jellyfish/
Description
Umbrella flat, flexible, transparent; with eight simple marginal lobes arising
from exumbrella slightly above umbrella margin, shallowly almost imperceptibly
cleft between.
Marginal tentacles small, filiform, up to a few hundred to more than 1000 in large
specimens, arising nearly at bell edge. Subumbrellar musculature inconspicuous.
From stomach lead 16 unbranched adradial canals, the eight perradial and
eight interradial canals typically fork roughly dichotomously into branches, which
connect approximately straight toring canal.
Gonads invaginated, with external subgenital pits, appearing as four horseshoeshaped ribbons in the gastric cavity, conspicuous due to their colour and
transparency of bell.
The four unbranched oral arms as long as umbrella radius, tapered, V-shaped in
section, with thick firm mesogloea and much-crenulated lips with many
small tentacle-like processes along their margins [A.aurita-subumbrella ].
Oral arms in life typically held horizontally when young (when shorter
than bell radius), dangling down in older specimens (when longer than radius).
Size
Diameter of umbrella usually up to 250-400 mm.
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Scyphozoa
Class Scyphomedusae
Order Semaeostomae
Family Ulmaridae
Genus Aurelia
Species Aurelia aurita
http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=zmns&id=130