Southern moon jelly
Aurelia marginalis stranded in South Padre Island, Texas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Order: Semaeostomeae
Family: Ulmaridae
Genus: Aurelia
Species:
A. marginalis
Binomial name
Aurelia marginalis
(Agassiz, 1862)

Aurelia marginalis (commonly called the southern moon jelly) is a species of the genus Aurelia.[1][2] All species in the genus are very similar, and it is difficult to identify Aurelia medusae without genetic sampling.[3]

Description

Aurelia marginalis was first named by Louis Agassiz in 1862, who encountered the jellyfish near Florida.[4] In 1910 Alfred G. Mayer suggested that A. marginalis was a synonym of A. aurita.[5] However, there is morphological and genetic evidence that A. marginalis is indeed a separate species.[2][3]

Aurelia marginalis in its medusa stage is "flatter than a hemisphere" and can grow up to 30 cm (12 in) in diameter. Differences between A. marginalis and A. aurita can mostly be found in the polyp stage and include "free amino acid composition, nematocyst types, morphology, and asexual reproduction," as well as genetics.[3]

Distribution

Aurelia marginalis can be found from Delaware Bay to the West Indies and throughout the Gulf of Mexico. It is a neritic species, meaning it lives in shallow waters near the coast.[2][3] A. marginalis lives in warm water.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Aurelia marginalis Agassiz, 1862". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Calder, D. R. (2009). "Cubozoan and Scyphozoan jellyfishes of the Carolinian biogeographic province, southeastern USA". Royal Ontario Museum Contributions in Science. 3: 35–37.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lawley, J. W.; Gamero-Mora, E.; Maronna, M. M.; Chiaverano, L. M.; Stampar, S. N.; Hopcroft, R. R.; Collins, A. G.; Morandini, A. C. (2021). "The importance of molecular characters when morphological variability hinders diagnosability: systematics of the moon jellyfish genus Aurelia (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)". PeerJ. 9: e11954. doi:10.7717/peerj.11954. PMC 8435205. PMID 34589293.
  4. ↑ Agassiz, L. (1862). Contributions to the natural history of the United States of America. Vol. 4. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 86.
  5. ↑ Mayer, A. G. (1910). Medusae of the World. Vol. 3. Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 627.
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