Introduction

Three genera are included within the Pelagiidae, namely, Chrysaora, Pelagia and Sanderia; a fourth, Dactylometra, is sometimes separated out from Chrysaora based on having 40 tentacles compared to 24 in the strictrer sense of Chrysaora. All three, or all four for that matter, are represented in Australian coastal waters. At least three species of Chrysaora (including one in the Dactylometra stage) are found in the temperate regions; two species of Pelagia, one reported from all states and the other presently known only from New South Wales; and one species of Sanderia reported from tropical Western Australia.

The genera of pelagiids are easy to tell apart: Pelagia has 8 tentacles, i.e., one each in alternation with eight rhopalia; Chrysaora has 24, i.e., clusters of three in alternation with eight rhopalia; Dactylometra has 40, i.e., clusters of five each in alternation with eight rhopalia; and Sanderia has 16, i.e., one each in alternation with 16 rhopalia. Dactylometra is not recognised by all authors; when not recognised, its species are grouped into the genus Chrysaora.

The pelagiids are the so-called 'sea nettles', and as such, can deliver quite a painful sting; however, none of the Australian species are known to cause medical complications. If a sting from a pelagiid is suspected, rinse well with sea water (not fresh water!) and apply ice for the pain as necessary; seek medical care if symptoms persist or worsen.

Diagnosis

Semaeostome scyphomedusae with marginal tentacles arising from umbrella margin; with gastrovascular sinus divided by radial septa into separate unbranched pouches; without ring canal; with elongated oral arms with frilled lips.

Diagnosis References

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. [70]

General References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [127]

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. [70]

History of changes

• Chrysaora Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [364].

  Type species:

   Chrysaora mediterranea Péron & Lesueur, 1810 by subsequent designation, see Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977] [577] (Unfortunately, the type species of the genus, Chrysaora mediterranea, has not been accepted as valid for many years.).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Cosmopolitan.

IMCRA

Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36)

Diagnosis

Pelagiidae generally with a conspicuous star pattern on the exumbrellar surface; the bell surface typically lacking conspicuous warts; with sense organs embedded in deep pits; with septa terminating near the tentacles; with gonadal tissues contained largely within the subumbrellar pouches; with ephyrae bearing a ring of round nematocyst patches on the exumbrella and a pair of oblong patches flanking each rhopalium.

ID Keys

A field key to eight species of Chrysaora from the Americas and Europe was provided by Gershwin & Collins (2002).

Diagnosis References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [134]

History of changes

• Chrysaora hexastoma Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [366].

Distribution

States

South Australia, Tasmania

Extra Distribution Information

Known only from type locality.

IMCRA

Tasmanian Shelf Province (36)

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, marine, neritic.

Diagnosis

Umbrella of a beautiful pink colour; white and toothed edge; six arm fringes very-long and whitish; 50-60 centimeters.

Diagnosis References

Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [366] (translated from French)

Notes

The species Chrysaora hexastoma was originally described from the Fleurieu region of South Australia and Tasmania. It was described as a symmetrical deviant; however, from the description it seems distinctive, but has not been seen again.

History of changes

• Chrysaora kynthia Gershwin, L. & Zeidler, W. 2008. Some new and previously unrecorded Scyphomedusae (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from southern Australian coastal waters. Zootaxa 1744: 1–18 [4-7, pls 1, 2].

  Type data:

   Holotype WAM WAM Z9944 Male specimen, preserved in formalin (Bell diameter 86 mm), South Mole, Fremantle, WA, coll. K. Usher, at surface, 7.ii.2000.

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Type locality: South Mole, Fremantle, Western Australia.

Australian Endemic.

Diagnosis

Chrysaora with 24 tentacles, with inner core sometimes pleated; exumbrellar rhopalial cone wide, tapering, not open to rhopalium; radial gastric septa bent, not S-shaped; gonads delicate and inverted W-shaped; lacking any pigmentation or star pattern.

History of changes

• Chrysaora pentastoma Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [366].

Distribution

States

South Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Known only from type locality.

IMCRA

Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33)

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, marine, neritic.

Diagnosis

Umbrella hemispherical, red; 36 to 40 deep incisions, and as many very long tentacles on the margin; 5 branched arms; five mouths; 5 stomachs; 6-7 centimetres.

Diagnosis References

Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [366] (Translated from French)

Notes

The species Chrysaora pentastoma clearly was intended to describe a symmetrical deviant; whether this species is identical to the common Chrysaora from the South Australian Gulfs region, or the similar form from the east, is unknown.

Chrysaora pentastoma was long thought to be a junior synonym of C. hysocella, and has been virtually ignored for many years.

History of changes

• Pelagia quinquecirrha Desor, E. 1848. Notes to the President in the Chair. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 3: 76 [76].
• Dactylometra quinquecirrha Agassiz, L. 1862. Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Second monograph. In five parts — Pt. I Acalephs in general. Pt. II Ctenophore. Pt. III. Discophorae. Pt. IV. Hydroidae. Pt. V. Homologies of the Radiata. Boston, London : Little Brown, Trubner Vol. IV i-viii, 380 pp. + (1-10), pls 20-35. [166] [Reclassification of Pelagia quinquecirrha Desor (1848); later moved to the genus Chrysaora by Kramp (1955a: 297; 1961b: 327); most authors have historically kept the species in the genus Dactylometra; sometimes still referred to under the genus Dactylometra in modern usage].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Kramp, P.L. 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469 [327]

Generic Combinations

• Dactylometra quinquecirrha (Agassiz, 1862).
• Chrysaora quinquecirrha (Kramp, 1955).

Distribution

Recorded from "Australia".

Extra Distribution Information

United States of America (District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia)

Ecological Descriptors

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

Diagnosis

Up to 250 mm wide; marginal lappets semicircular or tongue-shaped; the lappet-clefts of the primary and secondary tentacles deep, the tertiary mere shallow notches; stomach pouches all of equal width, septa straight until some distance from margin, where each of them makes an S-like bend before converging towards the rhopalar radius; in each octant three large tentacles and usually two (sometimes four) smaller ones issuing from subumbrella side of the rhopalar lappets; colour very variable, usually rather pale, yellowish or pink, sometimes in radiating stripes.

ID Keys

A field key to eight species of Chrysaora from the Americas and Europe was provided by Gershwin & Collins (2002).

Diagnosis References

Kramp, P.L. 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469 [328]

Notes

Reported in Australia by: Southcott, 1963; Edmonds, 1975. There is no evidence that assignment of Australian specimens to this species is accurate; all Australian reports of this species are probably erroneous.

Chrysaora quinquecirrha is the common bothersome sea nettle from Chesapeake Bay in the United States; it is sometimes also called Dactylometra quinquecirrha.

The species has had a complicated nomenclatural history: Originally described as Pelagia quinquecirrha Desor (1848); later moved to the genus Chrysaora by Kramp (1955a: 297; 1961b: 327); most authors have historically kept the species in the genus Dactylometra, even in modern usage. Dactylometra is charcterised by having 40 tentacles at maturity, whereas Chrysaora is characterised by having 24; since jellyfish are born without tentacles, and add them as they age, it is not difficult to imagine that a Dactylometra might go through a "Chrysaora stage" of having 24 tentacles. However, this does not make them identical. According to Papenfuss (1936), the nematocysts differed between the red 40-tentacled form and the white 24-tentacled form; however, Littleford (1938) studied both the red and white forms and concluded that they were "the extremes of a highly variable species and not separate species" (p42).

General References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148

Littleford, R.A. 1938. A study of the life history of Dactylometra quinquecirrha, L. Agassiz, and the taxonomic validity of this species. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland. 1-47, pl. I-XIX

Papenfuss, E.J. 1936. The utility of nematocysts in the classification of certain Scyphomedusae. Lund Universitets Arsskrift 2 31(11): 1-26 [14]

History of changes

• Chrysaora southcotti Gershwin, L. & Zeidler, W. 2008. Some new and previously unrecorded Scyphomedusae (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from southern Australian coastal waters. Zootaxa 1744: 1–18 [7-11, pls 3, 4].

  Type data:

   Holotype SAMA SAM H969 male specimen, preserved in formalin (Bell diameter 66.0 mm, longest oral arm 20.3 mm), Port Noarlunga, SA, drifting with current at surface in 8–10 m, coll. L. Gershwin & W. Zeidler, 18.i.1999
  Comment: A large number of paratypes are held.

Distribution

States

South Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Type locality: Port Noarlunga, South Australia.

Australian Endemic.

Diagnosis

Chrysaora with exumbrellar rhopalial pits moderately deep, broadly rounded or narrowly conical, blind ending. Subumbrellar rhopalial pits wide and open. Exumbrella and oral arms densely covered with conspicuous warts. Gastric septa tilting slightly toward rhopalia in distal quarter, meeting margin or stopping short of it, along the rhopalial side of outermost tentacle in each group. Tentacles 40. Lappets 48, of two forms. Diameter to approximately 66 mm. Coloration: bell whitish with warts pigmented red, tentacles white, oral arms appearing dark red to blackish due to heavy concentration of red nematocyst warts.

History of changes

Distribution

States

Queensland

Extra Distribution Information

Moreton Bay.

History of changes

• Chrysaora wurlerra Gershwin, L. & Zeidler, W. 2008. Some new and previously unrecorded Scyphomedusae (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from southern Australian coastal waters. Zootaxa 1744: 1–18 [11-15, pl. 5].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM AM G13681 female specimen, preserved in formalin (Bell diameter 125.9 mm, longest oral arm 92.7 mm.), Nobby Beach, Hawkesbury River, NSW, coll. R. Haddock, 16.10.1968 [33°33’S 151°14’E]
  Comment: Numerous paratypes are also held.

Distribution

States

New South Wales

Extra Distribution Information

Type locality: Hawkesbury River, New South Wales.

Australian Endemic.

Diagnosis

Chrysaora with 40 tentacles, with crescentic row of vacuoles at base of each central tentacle per octant; with tentacles flat and ribbon-like, in conspicuous 2-1-2 arrangement; with oral arms long and tapering; reaching over 125 mm BD.

History of changes

• Pelagia Péron & Lesueur, 1810.

  Type species:

   Medusa noctiluca Forsskål, 1775 (=Pelagia noctiluca (Péron & Lesueur, 1810)) by subsequent designation, see Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977] [570].

  Secondary source:

   Péron, F. & C.A. Lesueur 1809. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 14: 325-366 [Figures not published] [349].

Distribution

States

New South Wales, South Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Cosmopolitan.

IMCRA

Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33)

Diagnosis

Pelagiidae with a conspicuously warty exumbrellar surface, lacking a pigmented star pattern; with eight marginal tentacles alternating with eight marginal sense organs; with shallow rhopaliar pits; with septa terminating midway between the rhopalia and tentacles; with gonadal tissues primarily not contained within the gonadal pouches.

Diagnosis References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [134]

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. [71]

General References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [127]

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. [71]

History of changes

• Pelagia australis Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [350].

Distribution

States

South Australia

IMCRA

Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33)

Ecological Descriptors

Marine.

Diagnosis

Ombrelle sub-discoïde; quatre ovaires bleu de ciel disposés en croix, à son centre; des stries ramifiées son pourtour; rebord large entier; tentacules très-longs et trs-nombreux; hyaline; 8-10-12 centimtres; des iles Josphine.

Diagnosis References

Péron, F. & Lesueur, C.A. 1810. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. Paris 14: 325–366 [350]

Notes

Originally described from the Iles Joséphine, off modern-day Ceduna, near the top of the Great Australian Bight, under 'Pélagies Incertaines', this species has long been regarded as a junior synonym of the Mediterranean P. noctiluca. However, given that there is increasing evidence that the common Australian Pelagia is P. panopyra rather than P. noctiluca, the true identity of P. australis would be very interesting to resolve.

History of changes

• Medusa noctiluca Forsskål, P. 1775. Descriptiones Animalium Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, Vermium; quæ in Itinere Orientali observavit Petrus Forskål. Post Mortem Auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Adjuncta est Materia Medica Kakirina atque Tabula Maris Rubri Geographica. Hauniæ : Mölleri 1-19, i-xxxiv, 164 pp., 1 map. [109].

Generic Combinations

• Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskål, 1775). —
  Péron, F. & C.A. Lesueur 1809. Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de méduses connues jusqu'à ce jour. Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 14: 325-366 [Figures not published] [350]

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Cosmopolitan.

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, marine, neritic, planktonic.

Diagnosis

According to Russell (1970): Exumbrella with medium-sized warts of various shapes; marginal tentacles with longitudinal muscle furrows embedded in mesoglea; up to 100mm in diameter.

According to Kramp (1961): Up to about 65mm wide; nematocyst warts on exumbrella very variable in size and number; colour very variable.

Diagnosis References

Kramp, P.L. 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469 [329]

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. [72]

Notes

Reported in Australia by: QLD (Kramp, 1961a; Cleland & Southcott, 1965; Kramp, 1965a; Gershwin, unpublished 2000 Moreton Bay, 2005 Magnetic Island). NSW (Stiasny, 1931b; Ranson, 1945b; Cleland & Southcott, 1965; Kramp, 1965a). WA (Marsh & Slack-Smith, 1986). VIC (Fancett, 1986). Southern Australia (Coleman, 1979, 1981; Southcott, 1982). Australia unspecified (von Lendenfeld, 1884d: 266; Southcott, 1963b; Bennett, 1966; Edmonds, 1975; Williamson et al., 1996; Edgar, 1997, 2000). NT (new record). SA (new record).

Australian records of Pelagia noctiluca are likely to be erroneous.

General References

Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977] [570]

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. [71]

History of changes

• Pelagia panopyra Péron, F. 1807. Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes, exécuté par ordre de sa Majeste l'Empereur et Roi, sur les Corvettes le Geographe, le Naturaliste, et la Goelette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804. Historique: Tom. 1. [pl. 31].

Distribution

Extra Distribution Information

Widely reported thoughout the Pacific.

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, marine, neritic, planktonic.

Diagnosis

Pelagia with a stiff, globular body; with small, roundish or elliptical low-set gelatinous warts on the exumbrella; with a distinctive translucent pinkish colouration throughout.

Notes

The original description of Medusa panopyra is based only on a plate, with no accompanying written details.

The species has been reported from many localities throughout the tropics of the world, especially the Pacific. However, the taxonomy of species in the genus Pelagia is often confused and badly in need of revision.

The species was first reported in Australian waters by Haeckel (1880), without being specific as to any particular locality. Later, von Lendenfeld (1884d) and Dakin and Colfax (1933) reported it from northern Australia, Bloomfield (1959) reported it from Queensland, and Pope (1963) and Thomas (1963) reported it from New South Wales.

The species Pelagia panopyra is not typically regarded as valid in contemporary literature. However, there is a very common species of Pelagia in southeastern Australian waters, and occasionally found elsewhere, which matches the original figure perfectly. The group is badly in need of revision to determine the validity of P. panopyra as well as its relationship to its congeners.

General References

Mayer, A.G. 1910. Medusae of the World. Vol. 1 and 2, The Hydromedusae. Vol. 3, The Scyphomedusae. Washington, D.C. : Carnegie Institution 735 pp., 76 pls. [reprinted by A. Asher & Co., 1977] [571]

History of changes

Distribution

States

New South Wales

History of changes

• Sanderia Goette, A. 1886. Verzeichniss der medusen, welche von Dr. Sander Stabsarzt auf S. M. S. 'Prinz Adalbert' gesammelt wurden. Sitzungsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1886(2): 831–837 [835].

  Type species:

   Sanderia malayensis Goette, 1886 by monotypy.

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Iran, Japan

IMCRA

Northwest Shelf Province (27)

Distribution References

Diagnosis

Pelagiidae with 32 cleft marginal lappets; with 16 marginal sense-organs; with 16 tentacles alternating with the marginal sense-organs; with 32 radial stomach pouches all alike; exumbrella with numerous nematocyst warts.

Diagnosis References

Kramp, P.L. 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469 [330]

History of changes

• Sanderia pampinosus Gershwin, L. & Zeidler, W. 2008. Two new jellyfishes (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) from tropical Australian waters. Zootaxa 1764: 41–52 [42-46, fig. 1].

  Type data:

   Holotype WAM WAM Z4692 in formalin (74.80mm Bell Diameter, gonadal papillae: 40, 40, 39, 41), 105 n. miles NW of Port Hedland, WA, 14 April 1982, coll. L. Marsh on ‘Soela’ [19°06’S, 117°17’E to 19°05’S, 117°19’E].

  Secondary source:

   Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [128].

Distribution

States

Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Type locality: Port Hedland.

Australian Endemic.

IMCRA

Northwest Shelf Province (27)

Ecological Descriptors

Carnivorous, epipelagic, marine, planktonic.

Diagnosis

Sanderia with approximately 40 gonadal papillae per pouch, with gonadal tissue entirely contained within the papillae in horseshoe-shaped gastric pouches; eradial tentacles flattened in the oral-aboral direction, with nematocyst clusters on all sides.

Sting

Unknown, but should be assumed to be similar to that of S. malayensis, which is extremely painful and can cause systemic complications.

General References

Gershwin, L. & A. Collins 2002. A preliminary phylogeny of Pelagiidae (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa), with new observations of Chrysaora colorata comb. nov. Journal of Natural History 36(2): 127-148 [128]

History of changes