Species Aurelia aurita (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Medusa aurita Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10, 824 pp. [660].

Generic Combinations

• Aurelia aurita (Lamarck, 1816).

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Said to be cosmopolitan; Sweden, United Kingdom.

Reported in Australia by: Cleland & Southcott, 1965 (New South Wales); Kramp, 1965 (South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia); Bennett, 1966 (Australia-wide); Coleman, 1979 (Australia-wide); Southcott, 1982 (Australia-wide); Fancett, 1986 (Port Philip Bay); Edgar, 1997, 2000 (Australia-wide).

All Australian reports of Aurelia aurita are likely to be erroneous.

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, estuary, marine, neritic, planktonic.

Diagnosis

Umbrella with eight simple marginal lobes, without secondary notches; manubrium short and inconspicuous, not fleshy; oral arms meet at the mouth, as long as umbrella radius, with thick firm mesogloea and much-crenulated lips with many small tentacle-like processes along their margins; typically 3-5 (up to 7) radial canals arising from each gastro-genital sinus; adradial canals unbranched; perradial and interradial canals with primary canal unbranched, but branches from their bases with branch successively towards umbrella margin have only few anastomoses; size usually up to 250-400 mm in diameter.

Diagnosis References

Gershwin, L. 2001. Systematics and biogeography of the jellyfish Aurelia labiata (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa). Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole) 201: 104-119 [108]

Russell, F.S. 1970. Medusae of the British Isles. II. Pelagic Scyphozoa with a Supplement to the First Volume on Hydromedusae. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press 284 pp. [141]

General References

Bennett, I. 1966. Some pelagic molluscs and associated animals in south-eastern Australian waters. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australasia 1(9): 40-51

Cleland, J.B. & Southcott, R.V. 1965. Injuries to Man from Marine Invertebrates in the Australian Region. Canberra : Commonwealth of Australia.

Coleman, N. 1979. The Australian Beachcomber. Sydney : Collins.

Edgar, G.J. 1997. Australian Marine Life, the plants and animals of temperate waters. Kew, Victoria, Australia : Reed Books 544 pp.

Edgar, G.J. 2000. Australian Marine Life: the plants and animals of temperate waters. Sydney : Reed New Holland Revised Edn, 544 pp.

Fancett, M.S. 1986. Species composition and abundance of scyphomedusae in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria [Australia]. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 37(3): 379–384

Gershwin, L. 2001. Systematics and biogeography of the jellyfish Aurelia labiata (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa). Biological Bulletin (Woods Hole) 201: 104-119 [104] (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement)

Kramp, P.L. 1965. Some medusae (mainly Scyphomedusae) from Australian coastal waters. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 89: 257–278, pl. 1–3

Russell, F.S. 1970. Medusae of the British Isles. II. Pelagic Scyphozoa with a Supplement to the First Volume on Hydromedusae. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press 284 pp. [140]

Southcott, R.V. 1982. Jellyfishes (Classes Scyphozoa and Hydrozoa). pp. 115–159 in Shepherd, S.A. & Thomas, I.M. (eds). Marine Invertebrates of Southern Australia. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia Adelaide : Government Printer Part 1 491 pp.

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