Ecology Summary - Aurelia aurita

Language:

Ecology of Aurelia aurita

Main Ref.	Göthel, H., 1992
Remarks	Neritic, potentially pathogenic (Ref. 116114). Free living near the water's surface in pelagic zones (Ref. 2997), close to coasts (Ref. 358), and offshore (Ref. 813); also found in brackish waters (Ref. 2993), coastal embayments, fjords and estuaries (Ref. 3289). Their cnidocytes cannot transpierce the human skin. Suspension feeder (Ref. 3269) on tintinnids, rotifers, cladocerans and larvae of copepods (harpacticoid), barnacles (nauplii; Ref. 3053) and on fish larvae (Ref. 7715). Several cases reported sea anemones to feed on this species; fungiid coral is also an occasional feeder. Provides vital fatty acids for fishes and crustacean predators. Nutritional value of this species from macronutrients and key fatty acids appears to be important over only meeting a predator's energy demands (Ref. 122155).

Main Ref.

Göthel, H., 1992

Remarks

Neritic, potentially pathogenic (Ref. 116114). Free living near the water's surface in pelagic zones (Ref. 2997), close to coasts (Ref. 358), and offshore (Ref. 813); also found in brackish waters (Ref. 2993), coastal embayments, fjords and estuaries (Ref. 3289). Their cnidocytes cannot transpierce the human skin. Suspension feeder (Ref. 3269) on tintinnids, rotifers, cladocerans and larvae of copepods (harpacticoid), barnacles (nauplii; Ref. 3053) and on fish larvae (Ref. 7715). Several cases reported sea anemones to feed on this species; fungiid coral is also an occasional feeder. Provides vital fatty acids for fishes and crustacean predators. Nutritional value of this species from macronutrients and key fatty acids appears to be important over only meeting a predator's energy demands (Ref. 122155).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Aurelia aurita may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Göthel, H., 1992
Associations	commensalism; schooling;
Associated with	Associated with Scyllarus sp. larva (Ref. 3087) and Hyperia galba (Ref. 3088).
Association remarks	Sometimes aggregating in very large numbers (Ref. 363)
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Garciá, J.R., 1990
Feeding habit	filtering plankton
Feeding habit Ref.	Schneider, G. and G. Behrends, 1994

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition					zooplankton such as egg-yolk fish larvae, planktonic cnidarians
From individual food items	3.33	0.25			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	García, J.R., 1990

Back to Search

Comments & Corrections