Sizeīell average diameter 10 centimeters (4 inches), but may grow to about 30 centimeters (12 inches). ![]() Color variation is attributed to the symbiotic zooxanthellae living in the gelatinous mesoglea between the bell’s exterior and interior layers. The bell is usually greenish-blue to olive green with yellow, white, and/or brown oval, granular spots over the exumbrella. The arms hang down below the bell margin. The mouths are on the clubs and along the length of the arm that is toward the bell. Instead of a single mouth, this jelly has multiple mouths on its oral arms. The bell of the spotted lagoon jelly has a translucent, hemispherical shape with eight oral arms that end in a club-like appendage. These jellies live in lagoons, bays, and lakes, where they move in the water column to find light for their zooxanthellae. They were more recently in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Lagoon jellies subspecies are found in the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and China Sea to Japan and the Fiji Islands, and as far west as the Indo-Pacific. The habitat for our spotted lagoon jellies is in the Tropical Pacific gallery, where there is also signage about the golden jelly that inhabits Palau’s Jellyfish Lake. In times of low salinity these jellyfish exhibit loss of their zooxanthellae.CLIMATE CHANGE: Uncertain At the Aquarium They are mostly euryhaline but low salinities may have a negative effect on the species. When found in warm waters these jellyfish flourish. Jellyfish can live for up to five years in the polyp stage and up to two years in the medusa stage. Once on the bottom a polyp form occurs and this form reproduces asexually by “cloning” or dividing itself into other polyps. ![]() Once fertilization occurs and larvae are formed they leave their mother and settle to the ocean floor. In the medusa stage male jellyfish release sperm into the water column and the female jellyfish gathers the sperm into her mouth where she holds the eggs. True jellyfish, Phylum Cnidaria, go through a two stage life cycle which consists of a medusa stage and a polyp stage. It has been spotted off the Southern California coast, but not confirmed. The ecological impact of the species in those waters has not been determined. The species has also been found in the waters off the Hawaiian Islands since at least 1945, but have not experienced the same type of massive population explosion found in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. The Australian Spotted Jellyfish has a mild or non noticeable sting which can be cured with vinegar. In Gulf waters, the medusae grow to unusually large size, upward of 60cm across. As an invasive species, it has become a threat to several species of shrimp. While it is not known how it was introduced to the region, it has been theorized that budding polyps may have attached themselves to ships, or gotten carried in a ship's ballast tank which was subsequently dumped in the Gulf. Since at least 2000, "Phyllorhiza punctata" has been found in large numbers in Gulf of Mexico. While doing that, it ingests the plankton that native species need. Each jellyfish can filter as much as 13,200 gallons of sea water per day. However, their ability to consume plankton and the eggs and larvae of important fish species is cause for concern. They have only a mild venom and are not considered a threat to humans. In July 2007 smaller ones were seen in Bogue Sound much further north along the North Carolina Coast. wide, perhaps the largest ever recorded, was found on Sunset Beach, NC. punctata average 45-50 cm in bell diameter but there had been a maximum reported size of 62 cm. It is native to the southwestern Pacific, where it feeds primarily on zooplankton. "Phyllorhiza punctata" is a species of jellyfish, also known as the Australian spotted jellyfish or the White-spotted jellyfish.
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