Aurelia aurita   (Linnaeus, 1758)

Moon jelly

Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Aurelia aurita  AquaMaps  Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Aurelia aurita

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Scyphozoa | Semaeostomeae | Ulmaridae | Aureliinae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Pelagic; brackish; depth range 0 - 1250 m (Ref. 116114).  Subtropical; 78°N - 55°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Circumglobal. This species is widespread in all the seas of the sphere, from the equator to the poles. Subtropical to polar.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 2 - 31 cm Max length : 50.0 cm WD male/unsexed; (Ref. 2376)

Short description Morphology

Maximum diameter: 50 cm (Ref. 358); Height, from 10 to 12.5 cm; diameter, being able to reach 40 to 50 cm (Ref. 363). Plane sunshade; comprising very many tentacles courts with the periphery. One counts 4 oral arms; and 4 sexual organs; of annular form or in the horseshoe shape very many radiate channels. Coloring: generally translucent, with slightly pink reflections, blue or purple; the sexual organs are more clearly colored red or pink (Ref. 358).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

This species is being eaten by predators because of its high fatty acid content (Ref. 122155).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

High abundances of ephyrae during late autumn can be explained by the large number of poly disc scyphistomae preceding to the appearance of ephyrae (Ref. 3062). Polyps begin to develop in August-September, matures in October and dies in November (Ref. 3271). Budding doesn’t occur in winter months (Ref. 7721). Can live up to 2 years (Ref. 3049).

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Wrobel, D. and C.E. Mills. 1998. (Ref. 2376)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
| FishSource |

Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Trophic Ecology
Food items
Diet
Food consumption
Ration
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth
Age/Size
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Fecundity
Spawning
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Human Related
Aquaculture profile
Stamps, Coins Misc.
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Taxonomy
Common names
Synonyms
Morphology
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References
References

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 4.7 - 25.3, mean 12.3 (based on 3533 cells).
Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.45-3.83).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Low vulnerability (25 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

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