Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)

One of the most popular/ common jellyfish species in the aquarium trade, the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) is a nearly translucent, saucer-shaped jellyfish, easily identified by the four horseshoe-shaped gonads visible through its bell. Widespread in coastal waters worldwide, it propels itself with gentle pulses. Its short, fringe-like tentacles and oral arms are used to capture plankton and other small prey. While it possesses stinging cells to immobilize its food, its venom is very mild and generally harmless to humans. This elegant and ubiquitous species is a common and mesmerizing sight in aquariums and temperate seas across the globe.

Notes: They do best and are most stable in lower temperatures and less salinity (18 °C and 25ppt). Be sure to use a UV sterilizer in your tank. Feed the jellyfish baby brine shrimp once or twice a day—enriching the shrimp is a good idea but you don’t have to. You can also feed baby brine shrimp to the polyps and the baby jellies (ephyrae). Keep the polyps at room temperature. After you lower the temperature to 13°C, they should start strobilation (producing babies) within a few weeks.

The tropical strain of moon jellyfish (Aurelia spp.), which is more translucent and fragile, requires a warmer temperature range of 24-26 °C. It is also considered slightly more challenging to culture than the temperate strain.