Péron and Lesueur, 1809

Description
Adult umbrella large; saucer shaped, thick in centre, gradually thinning towards margin. Stomach usually half as wide as disc. Radial canals usually 60-80, but sometimes fewer or up to 160; with gonads along almost their whole length.
Tentacles usually fewer than radial canals but varied from half to twice as many. Marginal bulbs few, scattered; tentacle bulbs elongate-conical [A.forskalea-marg ]; excretory pores on short papillae; 5-10 statocysts between adjacent radial canals. [After Kramp, 1961, and Russell, 1970b].

Size
Umbrella up to ca 175 mm across.

Ecology
Reproductive season unclear owing to difficulties of identification.

Depth range
Coastal to offshore.

Distribution in the North Sea
Not reported from the North Sea; might enter the SW North Sea from the eastern Channel.

World distribution
Probably throughout Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans in all suitable temperate to tropical waters, occurring occasionally even in mid-ocean (e.g. W of Azores, in Kramp, 1961: 205; Pagès, 1991). In Atlantic Ocean said to occur N to Norwegian Sea. [After Kramp, 1961, and Russell, 1970b].

Remark
Russell, 1953a described developmental details of the meduse in relation to bell diameter.

[After Cornelius, 1995a]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Hydrozoa
Class Leptolida
Subclass Leptothecatae
Order Conica
Suborder Campanulinida
Superfamily Campanulinoidea
Family Aequoreidae
Genus Aequorea
Species Aequorea forskalea

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Aequorea forskalea (Forskål, 1775)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Medusa aequorea | Forskål, 1775
Campanulina paracuminata | Rees, 1938 = younger name applied to polyp

Cornelius, P.F.S., 1995a. North-West European thecate hydroids and their Medusae. Part 1. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series), No 50.

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

Pagès, F., 1991. Ecologia y sistematica de los cnidarios planctonicos de la corriente de Benguela (Atlantico Sudoriental). PhD thesis, Universidad de Barcelona: 466pp.

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.

Russell, F.S., 1970b. Hydromedusae. Family: Aequoridae. Fiches d'Identification du Zooplancton, 128 (1970). Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Kopenhagen.

For further info about Aequorea forskalea, you can also look up this species under:

You can continue searching for Aequorea forskalea on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

Google | Yahoo | MSN | Wikipedia