Moon Jellyfish

About

Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) are among the most recognizable invertebrates on the planet, found drifting through temperate and tropical seas worldwide. Their translucent bell, ranging from a couple of inches across to nearly a foot in larger specimens, is ringed with a fringe of fine tentacles and marked at the center by four horseshoe-shaped gonads that give them their characteristic four-leaf clover appearance. In the wild they move in massive seasonal blooms, pulsing lazily through the water column and feeding on tiny zooplankton, fish eggs, and other small organisms that drift into contact with their tentacles and oral arms. In captivity, keeping them successfully is a genuine challenge. They require a kreisel tank. A circular, flow-through design that keeps the bell tumbling gently in suspension without letting it get sucked against a filter intake or battered against a flat wall. Standard rectangular aquaria simply don't work, and they cannot be housed with fish or most other invertebrates. Their diet of live or frozen brine shrimp nauplii and other fine foods needs to be delivered carefully into the water current. With the right setup they are deeply rewarding to keep, but this is a species that demands real commitment before you dive in.