Moon Jellyfish

Kingdom - Kingdom Animalia

Phylum - Cnidaria 

Class - Scyphozoa

Family - Ulmaridae 

Order - Semaeostomeae 

Genus - Genus Aurelia 

Species - Aurelia Aurita 

How much rainfall - between 10 cm per year in the subtropics, with minima near St. Helena and the Cape Verde Islands, and more than 200 cm per  year in the tropics. 

Plants - Smooth cordgrass, salt meadow cordgrass, salt grass, needles rush. 

Animals - Humpback whale, manatees, sea lions, bull shark, grey seal, great white shark, harbor seal

Temperature - 68.9 degrees F 

Terrain - The entire Atlantic coast has a wide continental shelf and gradually sloping coastal plain. As a result, most sediment is derived from relict beaches and offshore sources. 

Distribution - Moon jellyfish are found in temperate and tropical waters worldwide, and near the surface of shallow bays and harbors. 

Continents found - Coastlines in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

Invasive at all - No

What exactly does it eat - tiny zooplankton, mollusk larvae, crustaceans, and small fishes 

How often does it eat - At least once a day, every day How does it get it’s food - Moon jellyfish feeds on its prey by stinging them with nematocysts found on their long tentacles 

Any special foods - no 

Live in packs or solo - Moon jellyfish tend to live alone but water currents and wind may tend to steer them in groups called blooms. 

Roles within community - Moon jellyfish play an important role in pelagic organic matter transformations. They feed on copepods and fish larvae, which may affect the plankton community. 

Male or Female led groups - Moon jellyfish blooms are not led by any jellyfish in particular 

Individuals that make up the group - There are no specific roles

How do they interact with each other - Moon jellyfish communicate with their kind by means of chemicals which is mostly used for reproduction purposes. 

How often do they mate - Moon jellyfish breed all year round, however mating intervals depend on properties of the environment. 

How many mates do they have - 2-3 per month if they go through sexual reproduction not asexual 

Time of year for mating - All year round 

Mating rituals - In this species, a male will use his tentacles to grab a female's tentacles; he will then drag her around for a while before pulling her in close to him. Next, he will produce and release a spermatophore (sperm packet), and use his tentacles to pass it to one of the female's tentacles.

Number of offspring produced at a time - Moon jellyfish can shed 40,000 eggs daily 

Any unique characteristics of their mating - After fertilization, females brood their larvae on their oral arms. The larvae will release and settle on or near the seafloor and grow into polyps

Stages of development - The larvae will release and settle on or near the seafloor and grow into polyps. In the asexual phase, polyps can create buds that grow into new polyps. They will also undergo metamorphosis in this phase known as strobilation, where they produce tens of ephyrae, which release and grow into adult medusae.

How old before sexual maturity - 8 - 12 months 

Activities and environment of stages - Once the egg is fertilized, a larva hatches and lives in the pelagic environment for some time. As it grows, the larva searches for a suitable place in shallow water and eventually attaches to the sea floor where it grows into an upside down medusa known as a polyp.

Difference between males and females - Male gonads are dark purple, and female gonads are pale pink.