Moon jellyfish
From Openwaterpedia
Contents |
Distribution
Genus Aurelia is found throughout most of the world's oceans, from the tropics to as far north as latitude 70°N and as far south as 40°S.[2] The species Aurelia aurita (moon jellyfish) is found along the eastern Atlantic coast of Northern Europe and the western Atlantic coast of North America in New England and Eastern Canada. In general, Aurelia is an inshore genus that can be found in estuaries and harbors. It lives in ocean water temperatures ranging from 6°C to 31°C; with optimum temperatures of 9°C to 19°C. Moon jellyfish prefers temperate seas with consistent currents.
Feeding
They feed on plankton that includes organisms such as mollusks, crustaceans, tunicate larvae, rotifers, young polychaetes, protozoans, diatoms, eggs, fish eggs, and other small organisms. Occasionally, they are also seen feeding on gelatinous zooplankton such as hydromedusae and ctenophores. Both the adult medusae and larvae of Aurelia have nematocysts to capture prey and also to protect themselves from predators.
Predators
Aurelia aurita is known to be eaten by a wide variety of predators including the Ocean sunfish (Mola mola), the Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the scyphomedusa Phacellophora camtschatica, and a very large hydromedusa (Aequorea victoria).
Moon jellies are also fed upon by sea birds, which may be more interested in the amphipods and other small arthropods that frequent the bells of Aurelia, but in any case, birds do some substantial amount of damage to these jellyfish that often are found just at the surface of bays.
