Forbes, 1848

Description
Umbrella bell-shaped with horizontal margin, apex rounded without pointed apical process [Euphysa aurata ]. Jelly thick, especially in apical region. Velum fairly wide. Four radial canals present. Manubrium tubular, with rounded apex, shorter than bell cavity. Mouth simple, circular, surrounded by nematocysts. Gonad encircling almost all manubrium, leaving upper end of manubrium and mouth free. Exumbrella without nematocyst tracks. One moniliform tentacle, three non-tentacular marginal bulbs smaller than tentacular bulb and with slight spurs. Marginal tentacular bulbs without ocelli.
Young medusa: E.aurata-newly.

Size
Umbrella up to 6 mm high, higher than wide.

Colour
[E.aurata-habitus ] Gonads yellow, oral end of manubrium often splashed with crimson; ring canal occasionally crimson; marginal bulbs yellowish to crimson, sometimes colourless; marginal tentacle yellow.

Ecology and depth range
Neritic. In northern British coastal waters medusae are common in the plankton from June to August; medusae first appear in March or April, and small numbers are still present throughout autumn and winter till January.

Distribution in the North Sea
Northern and southern North Sea.

World distribution
North Atlantic Ocean including Arctic waters and Mediterranean Sea; E and W South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans including the Indo-Pacific Antarctic sector.

[After Russell, 1953a; Kramp, 1959; Kramp, 1961; Bouillon, 1999]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Hydrozoa
Class Leptolida
Subclass Anthoathecatae
Order Capitata
Family Euphysidae
Genus Euphysa
Species Euphysa aurata

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Euphysa aurata Forbes, 1848

Scientific synonyms and common names

Corymorpha aurata | (Forbes, 1848)
Corymorpha annulicornis | M. Sars, 1860
Euphysa mediterranea | Haeckel, 1864

Bouillon, J., 1999. Hydromedusae. In: D. Boltovskoy (ed.), South Atlantic Zooplankton, Vol. 1. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 385-465.

Fraser, J.H., 1972. The distribution of the Medusae in the Scottish area. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (B) 74(1): 1-25.

Kramp, P.L. and D. Damas, 1925. Les Méduses de la Norvège. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk naturhistorisk Forening i København 80: 217-323.

Kramp, P.L., 1959. The hydromedusae of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent waters. Dana Report 46: 1-283; 2 plates, 335 text figures.

Kramp, P.L., 1961. Synopsis of the medusae of the world. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 40: 1-469.

Russell, F.S., 1953a. The medusae of the British Isles. Anthomedusae, Leptomedusae, Limnomedusae, Trachymedusae, and Narcomedusae. Cambridge University Press, 530 pp. 319 figures, 35 plates.

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