Moon Jellyfish Size report

Moon jellyfish (the scientific name: Aurelia aurita) is widely found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The moon jellyfish is a typical drifting jellyfish. This beautiful jellyfish is named for its umbrella-shaped body, which looks like a moon when viewed from the side and has shorter cilia surrounding it, which can swing food to the surrounding mucus layer.

Can moon jellyfish live on land with humans? Unfortunately, this is impossible, as Moon jellyfish is composed of almost 98 % water. The sun would dry their bodies when they were washed ashore by the waves. This kind of thing often happens because they live in warm coastal waters.

Moon jellyfish use their tentacles to defend themselves and catch prey. Fortunately, it will not harm humans because the toxicity of its venom poses no threat to humans. The moon jellyfish has a beautiful appearance and is very ornamental. It would be better to read the following post if you plan to raise some moon jellyfish in an aquarium.

Moon Jellyfish Size And Appearance

Moon jellyfish have a transparent umbrella-shaped membrane and relatively short tentacles. People can observe four distinct ring-shaped gonads in their transparent bodies. The moon jellyfish has no respiratory parts such as gills, lungs, or trachea. Because of their small size, they breathe by diffusing oxygen in the water. Their high surface area to volume ratio also helps them absorb more oxygen and nutrients. They also lack excretory and circulatory systems. They use their tentacles to catch their prey, which includes jellyfish, plankton, and mollusks. But the tentacles have limited mobility and can only move with the flow.

Average Size of Moon Jellyfish

Moon jellyfish live in low-temperature waters, and their individuals are larger than ordinary jellyfish. They have a bell body of generally 25-45 cm wide in diameter, a bell height of about 10-23 cm, and an overall length of 18-42 cm, with a weight between 0.01-0.03 kg.

Grow And Reproduction

Moon jellyfish can be male or female. The fertilized eggs have tiny ciliated cells that can float in the sea, settle on the appropriate substratum, and transform into polyps. When adequate nutrients are available, the polyps bud (vegetatively reproduced) produces discs that develop into a mature medusa. The polyps can divide by transverse fissures into tiny sphenoid larvae, which, when grown up, become jellyfish bodies. From the initial plankton larvae to sphenoid larvae, the body size will grow from 1 mm to about 1 cm and then grow to a jellyfish body with a diameter of several centimeters.

Moon jellyfish usually die naturally after living and reproducing for a few months. Rarely live more than six months in the wild, but some can live for years in aquariums. The typical lifespan of the moon jellyfish is 8-12 months. They are especially susceptible to bacterial infections when warmer snaps in late summer reduce their food intake and their rate of tissue regeneration. In addition, seasonal breeding also causes them to open their gonads and become infected.

Distribution

Moon jellyfish is distributed in the sea area from 70° north latitude to 40° south latitude. Generally speaking, they live near the shore, and people have the opportunity to see them in estuaries and seaports. They inhabit seawater with a water temperature of 6-31°C and are most suitable for water temperatures of 9-19°C. Moon jellyfish prefer temperate oceans with steady currents. They generally appear in sea areas with salinity lower than 3-23ppt.

Final Words

The moon jellyfish is found throughout the coast of the world's oceans. Around the size of a plate, it is recognizable by the four circles visible through the translucent white bell. These four circles are gonads, and they are normally purple. There are venomous cnidocytes on the tentacles, but they do not use them very often. Most reports show that the toxicity of the moon jellyfish is mild, and only a small number of sensitive people feel discomfort after touching it.