{"id":2489,"date":"2007-07-31T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-31T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/2007\/07\/31\/moon-jellyfish-fact-shee\/"},"modified":"2020-03-10T11:18:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T12:18:55","slug":"moon-jellyfish-fact-shee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/moon-jellyfish-fact-shee\/","title":{"rendered":"Moon jellyfish fact sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurelia aurita<\/em> |\u00a0Moon jellyfish\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The moon jellyfish\u00a0is a member of the escifozoos class of jellyfish and one of the most abundant and common in all the world’s oceans, mainly in coastal areas. It has four (or 5 to 7 ) horse shoe-shaped gonads which are symmetrically arranged. In females the gonads, or “moons” are pink in colour, whereas in males they are white. Moon jellyfish feed on zooplankton and small invertebrates such as crustaceans, and polychaetes. They use their tentacles to capture and paralyse their victims and guide them up to the mouth. Moon jellyfish swim by contracting their body with regular undulations. They stay near the surface, often travelling adrift on currents. Sometimes they are found stranded on the coast in large numbers, as they are not good swimmers. Their sting generally does not bother humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Length:\u00a0<\/strong>Diameter: 5 – 40 cm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diet:\u00a0<\/strong>Zooplankton such as molluscs, crustaceans, tunicate larvae, copepods, rotifers and nematodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reproduction:<\/strong>\u00a0Sexual and asexual. Sexes are separate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maturity:\u00a0<\/strong>3 months to 2 years \u00a0(ephyra to sexually reproducing medusa)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conservation Status:<\/strong>\u00a0There is no concern for the conservation of this species<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other languages<\/strong>
Portuguese: Medusa de lua
Spanish: Medusa com\u00fan
French: M\u00e9duse commune
Italian: Medusa quadrifoglio
German:\u00a0Ohrenqualle
Dutch: Oorkwal
Swedish: \u00d6ronmanet
Norwegian: Glassmanet
Danish: Vandman
Finnish: Korvamedusa
Polish:\u00a0Che\u0142bia modra
Russian:\u00a0\u0423\u0448\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0430\u044f \u0430\u0443\u0440\u0435\u043b\u0438\u044f<\/p>\n\n\n\n