''Chrysaora colorata'' (Russell), commonly known as the purple-striped jelly, is a species of

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

that exists primarily off the coast of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

from Bodega Bay to San Diego. The bell (body) of the jellyfish is up to in diameter, typically with a radial pattern of stripes. The tentacles vary with the age of the individual, consisting typically of eight marginal long dark arms, and four central frilly oral arms. It is closely studied by scientists due to not much being known about their eating habits. Often young ''Cancer'' crabs make home in the jellyfish and eat the parasitic amphipods that feed on and damage the jellyfish. The chrysaora colorata are more active in a lively current which makes it easier for them to move to capture their prey.

Description

The purple striped jelly is also known as the purple-striped sea nettle. When it is extremely young, it has a pinkish color and its tentacles are long and dark maroon. At the adult stage the dark maroon color of the tentacles starts to fade and the purple appears as stripes on the bell. At a young age the adults' four frilly oral arms will become longer. When the jellyfish starts to get older the tentacles thicken and the purple stripes start to darken and the tentacles start to look pale, its oral arms like to disappear. They are known to feed on a variety of organisms including Cladocera, Appendicularia, Copepoda, Hydromedusae, Siphonophora, and fish eggs. When the prey touches a marginal tentacle, stingers are immediately discharged to paralyze prey and marginal tentacle bends inward to the nearest oral arm. The oral arm is used to transport prey to the gastrovascular cavity (GVC) and to catch motionless prey. The sting of this jellyfish is extremely painful to humans but is rare. Chrysaora Colorata

Diet

Its diet consists of zooplankton, including

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

s, larval fish,

ctenophore Ctenophora (; ctenophore ; ) comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and ...

salp A salp (plural salps, also known colloquially as “sea grape”) or salpa (plural salpae or salpas) is a barrel-shaped, planktic tunicate. It moves by contracting, thereby pumping water through its gelatinous body, one of the most efficient ...

s, other jellies, and fish eggs.

Predation

The ''C. colorata'' is primarily preyed upon by

leatherback turtle The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea''), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to and weights ...

s. They are selected as prey due to the high concentrations of

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

and

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

in their four oral arms. They are particularly nutrient-dense during the post-upwelling season, which is when the leatherback concentration in the area is at its highest.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q589540 Chrysaora Animals described in 1964