Craspedacusta sowerbii

Craspedacusta sowerbii

Did you know that there are Jellyfish that don't live in the ocean? Now you do!

Today's species is Craspedacusta sowerbii, and it is found in calm freshwater bodies of water, like lakes, reservoirs, and slow moving rivers and streams.

These Jellyfish have actually have a distribution that spans the entire globe. They have been located on nearly every continent (sorry Antarctica) and in almost every single U.S. State. However, you won't see them constantly-- they pop up randomly, sometimes in bodies of water where they have never been seen before!

Craspedacusta sowerbii is able to move from place to place because during colder months their polyps contract and become podocysts. These Podocysts attach to other plants and animals that carry the Jellyfish to new places. And because they reproduce asexually, they are able to massively expand their populations very quickly.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa
Size : Diameter around 1in
Classification : Phylum : Cnidaria -- Class : Hydrozoa -- Order : Limnomedusae
Family : Olindiidae -- Genus : Craspedacusta-- Species : C. sowerbii
Image : Microscopy-UK

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Purple-striped Jelly

Chrysaora colorata

The Purple-striped Jelly is a large Jellyfish that is named for the violet radial strip
es that cover its bell. They can be found off of the coast of California, primarily in the Monterey Bay area.

These Jellies can grow to a pretty good size-- their bell diameter can measure upwards of two feet! As adults they have the aforementioned Bell Stripes, but as juveniles they have a more subdued coloration, with very dark tentacles. As the Jelly ages, the bell stripes appear but the tentacles lighten in color. And did you know that Purple-striped Jellies often have hitchhikers-- certain species of Cancer crab will hitch rides in the bell!

These critters are popular in Aquariums, but they never really reach the large sizes that are found in the wild.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Coastal California
Size : Bell up to 2.3ft (.7m) in diameter

Classification : Phylum : Cnidaria -- Class : Scyphozoa Order : Semaeostomeae
Family : Pelagiidae -- Genus : Chrysaora -- Species  : C. colorata

Image : Captmondo

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Flower Hat Jelly

Olindias formosa

Flower Hat Jellies are pretty easy to recognize-- these Cnidarians have translucent bells that are covered in dark pinstripes. In addition to that, they have short-looking tentacles that coil up close to the body, giving them a more compact look. Overall they are small in size, sporting diameters of around 6in.

You will find the Flower Hat Jellies swimming in the Pacific Ocean, in the waters near Japan. They feed mainly on small fishes, which they catch using their stinging tentacles.

If you are a human who gets stung by a Flower Hat, you'll feel some pain. These stings are not lethal.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Pacific
Size : Diameter up to 6in (15cm)

Classification : Phylum : Cnidaria -- Class : Hydrozoa -- Order : Limnomedusae
Family : Olindiidae -- Genus : Olindias -- Species : O. formosa

Image : kenpei

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Spotted Jelly

Mastigias papua

The Spotted Jelly is a neat little Jellyfish that hails from the shallow lagoons and bays of the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Theya re also sometimes referred to as Lagoon Jellyfish). They aren't especially, large, but aren't by any means tiny either. They can grow to lengths of around 1ft (30cm), with bell diameters of about 4in (12cm).

Each Spotted Jelly has four interesting little arms that each have mouth openings on them. That's right, they don't have just one mouth, they have a whole bunch of mouths! They use all those tiny mouths to feed on different kinds of Zooplankton.

Because they only eat really tiny things, small fish sometimes hang out near the Jellies. Like many jellyfish, this particular species has the ability to inject toxins into attackers, so the little fish will actually swim up inside the bell to stay safe! (The toxin will cause pain and nausea in humans, but there have been no reported deaths)

Spotted Jellies are normally solitary, but sometimes groups will form when they swim towards the surface during the daytime (they then descend deeper at night). They are able to reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexually reproduction takes places only during times when water is cooler, but asexual reproduction (through budding) can happen year round.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Southern Pacific Ocean
Size :  Body diameter around 4in (12cm)

Classification : Phylum : Cnidaria -- Class : Scyphozoa -- Order : Rhizostomeae
Family : Mastigiidae -- Genus : Mastigias -- Species : M. papua

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