Moon Jellyfish

The moon jellyfish is one of the most common and widely recognized jellyfish species, found in coastal waters across much of the world's oceans, easily identified by its translucent, saucer-shaped bell, usually with a faint bluish or pinkish tinge, and four horseshoe-shaped reproductive organs visible through the top of the bell. It feeds by trailing short, fine tentacles around the rim of its body to capture plankton, small fish larvae and other tiny drifting organisms, and its sting, delivered by microscopic stinging cells, is generally too weak to be felt by or seriously harm humans, unlike many other jellyfish species. Moon jellyfish drift largely at the mercy of ocean currents, and under favorable conditions of warm water, calm seas and abundant food they can form massive blooms containing many thousands of individuals, sometimes clogging power plant intake pipes or fishing nets. Like other jellyfish, the species has a complex life cycle that alternates between a free-swimming adult stage and a stationary polyp stage attached to the seafloor, from which new jellyfish eventually bud off.