The Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs conducts research and development in support of marine fisheries for the state of Mississippi. Fish- eries research has been an integral part of the mission of the laboratory since its creation in 1947. Center biologists work on a wide range of coastal fishery issues including: • blue crab and stone crab recruitment dynamics; • habitat requirements of early life history stages of finfish, shrimp and blue crabs; SEA JELLIES • reproductive biology of red drum, spotted seatrout, tripletail and wahoo; • age and growth of important commercial and recreational fish of the species; • impact of derelict and abandoned crab traps on crab resources and fishing and boating activities; • restoration of the striped bass population in coastal tributaries; Mississippi Sound • blue crab aquaculture; and • a program to establish estuarine water quality criteria for the Guide to the Sea Jellies of the Northern Gulf of Mexico State of Mississippi in conjunction with the Mississippi Depart- ment of Environmental Quality.

SEA JELLIES

of the Mississippi Sound Guide to the Sea Jellies of the Northern Sea jellies Gulf of Mexico appeared in the oceans about 650 Funded by the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, GLOSSARY million years ago and are found in all Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Bell – the gelatinous body of the animal; also called the world’s seas. They are important and the Center for Fisheries Research and Development umbrella or float and conspicuous members of the marine Written by Kirsten Larsen and Harriet Perry Pedalia – appendages extending from the four corners community and serve many ecological Cover Photo by: Alvaro Migotto of box jellies; long thin stinging tentacles are attached functions. In this guide are the species to them most often encountered in waters of Oral arms – appendages hanging below the bell that the northern Gulf of Mexico. GULF COAST RESEARCH LABORATORY facilitate movement of food to the oral cavity for diges- To report sightings of invasive species or un- 703 East Beach Drive • Ocean Springs, MS 39564 tion; may be long and ruffled or short, thick, and firm usual jellyfish occurrences, contact (228) 872-4200 • www.usm.edu/gcrl Nematocysts – stinging cells located along the [email protected]. AA/EOE/ADAI 8/05 tentacles of a sea jelly The Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs conducts research and development in support of marine fisheries for the state of Mississippi. Fish- eries research has been an integral part of the mission of the laboratory since its creation in 1947. Center biologists work on a wide range of coastal fishery issues including: • blue crab and stone crab recruitment dynamics; • habitat requirements of early life history stages of finfish, shrimp and blue crabs; SEA JELLIES • reproductive biology of red drum, spotted seatrout, tripletail and wahoo; • age and growth of important commercial and recreational fish of the species; • impact of derelict and abandoned crab traps on crab resources and fishing and boating activities; • restoration of the striped bass population in coastal tributaries; Mississippi Sound • blue crab aquaculture; and • a program to establish estuarine water quality criteria for the Guide to the Sea Jellies of the Northern Gulf of Mexico State of Mississippi in conjunction with the Mississippi Depart- ment of Environmental Quality.

SEA JELLIES

of the Mississippi Sound Guide to the Sea Jellies of the Northern Sea jellies Gulf of Mexico appeared in the oceans about 650 Funded by the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, GLOSSARY million years ago and are found in all Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Bell – the gelatinous body of the animal; also called the world’s seas. They are important and the Center for Fisheries Research and Development umbrella or float and conspicuous members of the marine Written by Kirsten Larsen and Harriet Perry Pedalia – appendages extending from the four corners community and serve many ecological Cover Photo by: Alvaro Migotto of box jellies; long thin stinging tentacles are attached functions. In this guide are the species to them most often encountered in waters of Oral arms – appendages hanging below the bell that the northern Gulf of Mexico. GULF COAST RESEARCH LABORATORY facilitate movement of food to the oral cavity for diges- To report sightings of invasive species or un- 703 East Beach Drive • Ocean Springs, MS 39564 tion; may be long and ruffled or short, thick, and firm usual jellyfish occurrences, contact (228) 872-4200 • www.usm.edu/gcrl Nematocysts – stinging cells located along the [email protected]. AA/EOE/ADAI 8/05 tentacles of a sea jelly OF THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO Sea Jellies Velella velella Scientifi c name: Aurelia aurita Scientifi c name: Cyanea capillata Common name: Moon jelly Common name: Lion’s mane Description: Translucent Description: Saucer-shaped bell, eight lobes along bell circular bell; large prominent edge, white to pink, often with thin pairs of red-brown gonads in clover shape. Seasonal- radial stripes; more than ity: Small ones appear offshore Photo by: Peter Parks 150 very long stinging imagequestmarine.com in summer months, larger adults tentacles; dense ribbon- found inshore September through like gonadal and mouth December. Distribution: Worldwide, both an inshore and extensions beneath bell offshore species; tolerates a wide range of salinity and tem- that are shorter than ten- perature. Size: Up to 16 inches (400 mm) bell diameter. tacles. Seasonality: Janu- Photo by: Kirsten Larsen Sting: Harmless to humans; sometimes very mild sting. ary through March. Distribution: North Atlantic into Gulf of Mexico, North Pacific. Size: Up to 10 inches (260 mm) Scientifi c name: Chrysaora quinquecirrha bell diameter in Gulf, may reach seven feet (2 m) across in Common name: Sea nettle, compass jellyfi sh Arctic. Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. Description: Saucer-shaped bell, white to pink, often with red-brown Scientifi c name: Drymonema dalmatinum Photo by: Peter Parks radial stripes; 24- Common name: No offi cial common name; locally imagequestmarine.com 40 long stinging called big pink, pink meanie, stinging caulifl ower, tentacles; from bell, purple sea mane four long, ruffled, Description: Similar to the lion’s mane; bell flatly lacy extensions same rounded, shield shaped, pink to yellow-white; more than length as tentacles. 150 long stinging tentacles; beneath bell are dense ribbon- Invaders from Seasonality: May like gonadal and mouth extensions that are shorter than Down Under through December. tentacles. Seasonality: Observed in the fall of 2000 in the Phyllorhiza punctata – an exotic species from “down Distribution: Cape Mississippi Sound. Distri- under,” the Australian spotted jellyfi sh invaded Missis- sippi waters in the summer of 2000 in the hundreds of Cod to Florida bution: Mediterranean, thousands. Arriving as small tennis-ball-sized individuals, through Texas. Size: Indo-Pacific, Caribbean, they soon grew to washtub size weighing over 25 pounds. As fi lter feeders, they strain tiny plants and animals from Up to six inches Gulf of Mexico. Size: Up the water column, and there was some concern that they (150 mm) bell diam- to three feet (1 m) bell were feeding on the larvae of important fi sh and shellfi sh Photo by: eter. Sting: Venom- diameter. Sting: Highly in local waters. Ron Larson ous, avoid contact. Photo by: Jason Steckler venomous, avoid contact. Photo by: Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Scientifi c name: Physalia physalis Scientifi c name: Porpita porpita Scientifi c name: Chiropsalmus quadrumanus Common name: Portuguese man-of-war Common name: Blue button Common name: Sea wasp, box jelly Description: Button-shaped float with a hydroid Description: Translucent dome-shaped bell with Chiropsalmus colony of tentacles beneath; float has grooves radiating four distinct sides; four large, hand-shaped pedalia with quadrumanus from the seven to nine finger-like branches, each branch giving rise center and to a long slender tentacle; tentacles covered with closely set is golden rings of nematocysts. Seasonality: August through Octo- brown; ten- ber. Distribution: Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico. tacles may Size: Bell diameter up to seven inches (175 mm), tentacles be blue up to 10 feet (3m). Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. to purple to yellow. Photo by: Peter Parks Scientifi c name: Tamoya haplonema Seasonal- imagequestmarine.com Common name: Sea wasp, box jelly ity: Usually washes ashore on beaches during the sum- Description: Translucent elongate bell with four dis- mer months. Distribution: Warm waters of the Atlantic tinct sides; four flat, spatula-shaped pedalia extending from Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Size: Less than 1.5 inches bell margin each with one tentacle; tentacle long, hollow, (40 mm) in diameter. Sting: No sting. very flexible and covered with closely set rings of nemato- cysts. Seasonality: May be present year round. Distribu- tion: Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico. Size: Bell length up Scientifi c name: Velella velella to eight inches (200 mm), ten- Common name: By-the-wind sailor tacles up to 10 feet (3 m). Sting: Description: Bluish to purple with a flat oval trans- Venomous, avoid contact. parent float; an erect triangular sail projects vertically and short tentacles hang down from float. Seasonality: Venomous jellyfi sh can Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Washed ashore during spring and summer months. still deliver a nasty sting, Distribution: Worldwide, tropical and temperate even when washed oceans. Size: Float up to three inches (75 mm) across. Description: Purplish-blue, gas-filled floating sac with ashore and appearing Sting: No sting. long red, purple or blue tentacles. Seasonality: Novem- dead; the stinging cells ber through March. Distribution: Worldwide, usually can be triggered by tropical waters. Size: Bell may reach up to 12 inches (300 mechanical stimulation. mm) in length with tentacles reaching up to five feet (1.5 Photo by: Alvaro Migotto m) in length. Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Did YouYou Know?The largest jellyfi sh in the world, Cyanea arctica, weighs nearly a ton and can have tentacles up to 100 feet long. Scientifi c name: Phyllorhiza punctata Scientifi c name: Rhopilema verrilli Scientifi c name: Beroe ovata Common name: Spotted jelly Common name: No offi cial common name, some- Common name: Brown comb jelly Description: Bell somewhat flattened, colorless with white times called mushroom jelly Description: Barrel- spots; lacking tentacles around the margin; eight short, thick, Description: Bell somewhat flattened, whitish, shaped; color reddish- transparent branching oral arms which terminate in large bundles NO WHITE SPOTS; lacking tentacles around the brown to orange with of stinging cells; a longer ribbon-like transparent appendage margin; eight thick transpar- rows of “combs” running hangs from each oral arm. Seasonality: Summer. Distribution: ent branching oral arms the length of the body. Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Australia, Hawaiian Islands. Size: which terminate with large Seasonality: Year round Bell diameter up to 20 inches (500 mm). Sting: Usually harmless bundles of stinging cells, with highest densities to humans, sometimes mild sting on sensitive areas. may have fingerlike trans- during summer months. Photo by: Kirsten Larsen parent extensions below. Distribution: Gulf of Mexico Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Seasonality: December Photo by: Harriet Perry and western Atlantic Ocean, has been introduced into through March. DDistribution:istribution: the Black and Caspian Seas. Size: Up to eight inches Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Size: Bell diameter (200 mm) in length. Sting: No sting. up to 20 inches (500 mm). Sting: Usually harmless to humans, sometimes mild sting on sensitive areas. Scientifi c name: Aequorea aequorea and Scientifi c name: Stomolophus meleagris Rhacostoma atlanticum Common name: Cannonball jelly, Scientifi c name: Mnemiopsis spp. Common name: Crystal jelly, water jelly cabbagehead Common name: Common comb jelly Description: Flat, solid saucer-shaped bell; one side Description: Rounded, rigid bell; milky Description: Transparent, elongated body; semi- of bell is lined with radial canals that feel like ridges; color, sometimes with reddish-brown pat- transparent rows of “combs” running the length of very fine tentacles; Rhacostoma differs from Aequorea tern becoming darker towards bell margin; body. Seasonality: Year round with highest densities by having wart-like bumps lining the canals; can be tentacles and oral arms presented as a during the summer months. Distribution: Gulf of bioluminescent. Sea-Sea- short, rigid stalk extending beneath bell. Mexico and western sonality: SpringSpring aandnd Seasonality: November through April, oc- Atlantic Ocean; has summer. Distribu- casionally seen other months. Distribution: been introduced into tion: Worldwide. Chesapeake Bay through Gulf of Mexico to the Black and Caspian Size: Up to 15 South America, Pacific side of Panama. Seas. Size: Up to four inches (380 mm) Size: Ball shaped, from tennis to soccer-ball inches (100 mm) in diameter. Sting: size. Sting: Mild to no sting. length. Sting: No sting No sting.

Photo by: Ron Larson Photo by: Kirsten Larsen Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Did YouYou Know?The largest jellyfi sh in the world, Cyanea arctica, weighs nearly a ton and can have tentacles up to 100 feet long. Scientifi c name: Phyllorhiza punctata Scientifi c name: Rhopilema verrilli Scientifi c name: Beroe ovata Common name: Spotted jelly Common name: No offi cial common name, some- Common name: Brown comb jelly Description: Bell somewhat flattened, colorless with white times called mushroom jelly Description: Barrel- spots; lacking tentacles around the margin; eight short, thick, Description: Bell somewhat flattened, whitish, shaped; color reddish- transparent branching oral arms which terminate in large bundles NO WHITE SPOTS; lacking tentacles around the brown to orange with of stinging cells; a longer ribbon-like transparent appendage margin; eight thick transpar- rows of “combs” running hangs from each oral arm. Seasonality: Summer. Distribution: ent branching oral arms the length of the body. Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Australia, Hawaiian Islands. Size: which terminate with large Seasonality: Year round Bell diameter up to 20 inches (500 mm). Sting: Usually harmless bundles of stinging cells, with highest densities to humans, sometimes mild sting on sensitive areas. may have fingerlike trans- during summer months. Photo by: Kirsten Larsen parent extensions below. Distribution: Gulf of Mexico Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Seasonality: December Photo by: Harriet Perry and western Atlantic Ocean, has been introduced into through March. DDistribution:istribution: the Black and Caspian Seas. Size: Up to eight inches Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Size: Bell diameter (200 mm) in length. Sting: No sting. up to 20 inches (500 mm). Sting: Usually harmless to humans, sometimes mild sting on sensitive areas. Scientifi c name: Aequorea aequorea and Scientifi c name: Stomolophus meleagris Rhacostoma atlanticum Common name: Cannonball jelly, Scientifi c name: Mnemiopsis spp. Common name: Crystal jelly, water jelly cabbagehead Common name: Common comb jelly Description: Flat, solid saucer-shaped bell; one side Description: Rounded, rigid bell; milky Description: Transparent, elongated body; semi- of bell is lined with radial canals that feel like ridges; color, sometimes with reddish-brown pat- transparent rows of “combs” running the length of very fine tentacles; Rhacostoma differs from Aequorea tern becoming darker towards bell margin; body. Seasonality: Year round with highest densities by having wart-like bumps lining the canals; can be tentacles and oral arms presented as a during the summer months. Distribution: Gulf of bioluminescent. Sea-Sea- short, rigid stalk extending beneath bell. Mexico and western sonality: SpringSpring aandnd Seasonality: November through April, oc- Atlantic Ocean; has summer. Distribu- casionally seen other months. Distribution: been introduced into tion: Worldwide. Chesapeake Bay through Gulf of Mexico to the Black and Caspian Size: Up to 15 South America, Pacific side of Panama. Seas. Size: Up to four inches (380 mm) Size: Ball shaped, from tennis to soccer-ball inches (100 mm) in diameter. Sting: size. Sting: Mild to no sting. length. Sting: No sting No sting.

Photo by: Ron Larson Photo by: Kirsten Larsen Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Scientifi c name: Physalia physalis Scientifi c name: Porpita porpita Scientifi c name: Chiropsalmus quadrumanus Common name: Portuguese man-of-war Common name: Blue button Common name: Sea wasp, box jelly Description: Button-shaped float with a hydroid Description: Translucent dome-shaped bell with Chiropsalmus colony of tentacles beneath; float has grooves radiating four distinct sides; four large, hand-shaped pedalia with quadrumanus from the seven to nine finger-like branches, each branch giving rise center and to a long slender tentacle; tentacles covered with closely set is golden rings of nematocysts. Seasonality: August through Octo- brown; ten- ber. Distribution: Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico. tacles may Size: Bell diameter up to seven inches (175 mm), tentacles be blue up to 10 feet (3m). Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. to purple to yellow. Photo by: Peter Parks Scientifi c name: Tamoya haplonema Seasonal- imagequestmarine.com Common name: Sea wasp, box jelly ity: Usually washes ashore on beaches during the sum- Description: Translucent elongate bell with four dis- mer months. Distribution: Warm waters of the Atlantic tinct sides; four flat, spatula-shaped pedalia extending from Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Size: Less than 1.5 inches bell margin each with one tentacle; tentacle long, hollow, (40 mm) in diameter. Sting: No sting. very flexible and covered with closely set rings of nemato- cysts. Seasonality: May be present year round. Distribu- tion: Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico. Size: Bell length up Scientifi c name: Velella velella to eight inches (200 mm), ten- Common name: By-the-wind sailor tacles up to 10 feet (3 m). Sting: Description: Bluish to purple with a flat oval trans- Venomous, avoid contact. parent float; an erect triangular sail projects vertically and short tentacles hang down from float. Seasonality: Venomous jellyfi sh can Photo by: Alvaro Migotto Washed ashore during spring and summer months. still deliver a nasty sting, Distribution: Worldwide, tropical and temperate even when washed oceans. Size: Float up to three inches (75 mm) across. Description: Purplish-blue, gas-filled floating sac with ashore and appearing Sting: No sting. long red, purple or blue tentacles. Seasonality: Novem- dead; the stinging cells ber through March. Distribution: Worldwide, usually can be triggered by tropical waters. Size: Bell may reach up to 12 inches (300 mechanical stimulation. mm) in length with tentacles reaching up to five feet (1.5 Photo by: Alvaro Migotto m) in length. Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. Photo by: Alvaro Migotto OF THE NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO Sea Jellies Velella velella Scientifi c name: Aurelia aurita Scientifi c name: Cyanea capillata Common name: Moon jelly Common name: Lion’s mane Description: Translucent Description: Saucer-shaped bell, eight lobes along bell circular bell; large prominent edge, white to pink, often with thin pairs of red-brown gonads in clover shape. Seasonal- radial stripes; more than ity: Small ones appear offshore Photo by: Peter Parks 150 very long stinging imagequestmarine.com in summer months, larger adults tentacles; dense ribbon- found inshore September through like gonadal and mouth December. Distribution: Worldwide, both an inshore and extensions beneath bell offshore species; tolerates a wide range of salinity and tem- that are shorter than ten- perature. Size: Up to 16 inches (400 mm) bell diameter. tacles. Seasonality: Janu- Photo by: Kirsten Larsen Sting: Harmless to humans; sometimes very mild sting. ary through March. Distribution: North Atlantic into Gulf of Mexico, North Pacific. Size: Up to 10 inches (260 mm) Scientifi c name: Chrysaora quinquecirrha bell diameter in Gulf, may reach seven feet (2 m) across in Common name: Sea nettle, compass jellyfi sh Arctic. Sting: Highly venomous, avoid contact. Description: Saucer-shaped bell, white to pink, often with red-brown Scientifi c name: Drymonema dalmatinum Photo by: Peter Parks radial stripes; 24- Common name: No offi cial common name; locally imagequestmarine.com 40 long stinging called big pink, pink meanie, stinging caulifl ower, tentacles; from bell, purple sea mane four long, ruffled, Description: Similar to the lion’s mane; bell flatly lacy extensions same rounded, shield shaped, pink to yellow-white; more than length as tentacles. 150 long stinging tentacles; beneath bell are dense ribbon- Invaders from Seasonality: May like gonadal and mouth extensions that are shorter than Down Under through December. tentacles. Seasonality: Observed in the fall of 2000 in the Phyllorhiza punctata – an exotic species from “down Distribution: Cape Mississippi Sound. Distri- under,” the Australian spotted jellyfi sh invaded Missis- sippi waters in the summer of 2000 in the hundreds of Cod to Florida bution: Mediterranean, thousands. Arriving as small tennis-ball-sized individuals, through Texas. Size: Indo-Pacific, Caribbean, they soon grew to washtub size weighing over 25 pounds. As fi lter feeders, they strain tiny plants and animals from Up to six inches Gulf of Mexico. Size: Up the water column, and there was some concern that they (150 mm) bell diam- to three feet (1 m) bell were feeding on the larvae of important fi sh and shellfi sh Photo by: eter. Sting: Venom- diameter. Sting: Highly in local waters. Ron Larson ous, avoid contact. Photo by: Jason Steckler venomous, avoid contact. Photo by: Mississippi Department of Marine Resources