Aurelia aurita

Overview

MarLIN describes a transparent, flattened bell commonly about 25 cm across and occasionally up to 40 cm. Short hollow tentacles with stinging cells fringe the margin. Four horseshoe-shaped gonads and four oral arms are prominent, and radial canals connect to a marginal ring canal.

The account reports separate sexes, internal fertilization and embryos brooded on the oral arms. Free-swimming planula larvae later settle as attached scyphistoma polyps.

Lawley et al. (2021) used four mitochondrial and nuclear markers to recognize 28 Aurelia species hypotheses, ten of them newly described and seven still undescribed. Because morphology proved variable and plastic, they supplied genetic diagnoses. Older reports of a cosmopolitan A. aurita may therefore combine several species.

Origins & earliest records

The supplied sources do not verify a first-description date or establish an evolutionary origin.

Evidence & interpretation

One institutional marine species account (MarLIN) and one peer-reviewed molecular systematics study.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)

   · n.d.

   Selected bibliography; MarLIN account of description and life history.

2. 02

   The importance of molecular characters when morphological variability hinders diagnosability: systematics of the moon jellyfish genus Aurelia (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)

   Lawley et al. · 2021

   Selected bibliography; PeerJ 9:e11954, DOI 10.7717/peerj.11954.

Family, evolution & connections

Taxonomic classification

A hierarchy of classified groups, not a chain of direct ancestors.

Source note: Ranks are taken from the Lawley et al. title. Order and family were not established in the packet, and species limits within Aurelia remain under revision.

1. PhylumCnidaria
2. ClassScyphozoa
3. GenusAurelia

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Institutional species accountMoon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)Research access: 2026-10-06
2. Peer-reviewed articleThe importance of molecular characters when morphological variability hinders diagnosability: systematics of the moon jellyfish genus Aurelia (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)Research access: 2026-10-06

Image credits

A black radial silhouette with numerous rounded projecting lobes, labelled Aurelia aurita by its contributor.

Attributed silhouette illustration labelled Aurelia aurita by the source; it shows an outline, without colour or diagnostic detail. The lobed outline is not presented as an adult bell photograph; source supplies no life-stage caption.