Aurelia (genus)

Taxobox
name = "Aurelia" sp.


image_width = 250px
image_caption = An adult "Aurelia" medusae
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Cnidaria
classis = Scyphozoa
ordo = Semaeostomeae
familia = Ulmaridae
genus = "Aurelia""Aurelia" is a genus of scyphozoan jellyfish (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa). There are at least 13 species in the genus "Aurelia" including many that are still not formally described [cite journal|last=Dawson|first=Michael N|date=2003|title=Macro-morphological variation among cryptic species of the moon jellyfish, "Aurelia" (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa)|journal=Marine Biology|volume=143|pages=369-379] [cite web|url=http://www2.eve.ucdavis.edu/mndawson/tS/Org/JotQ/JotQ_03Oct.html|title=Aurelia species|last=Dawson|first=Michael N|accessdate=2008-08-12] . It has been suggested that "Aurelia" is the most well-studied group of gelatinous zooplankton, with "Aurelia aurita" the most well studied species in the genus; two other species, "Aurelia labiata" and "Aurelia limbata" have also been investigated (studies summarized by Arai [cite book|last=Arai|first=Mary Needler|title=A Functional Biology of Scyphozoa|publisher=Chapman and Hall|location=London|pages=68-206] ). Since most previous studies of "Aurelia" were done without the benefit of genetic identification, one cannot positively attibute the results of most research to the species named. "Aurelia" spp. can be found in the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and are common to the waters off California, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Black Sea, Croatia, Indonesia, the East Coast of the United States as well as Europe. [cite web|url=http://www2.eve.ucdavis.edu/mndawson/tS/Org/JotQ/JotQ_03Oct.html|title=Aurelia species|last=Dawson|first=Michael N|accessdate=2008-08-12] "Aurelia" undergoes alternation of generations, whereby the sexually-reproducing pelagic medusa stage is either male or female, and the benthic polyp stage reproduces asexually.

References

External links

* [http://www.seawater.no/fauna/Nesledyr/glassmanet.htm Excellent photos of Aurelia in Norway]
* [http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/MarineInvertebrateZoology/Aureliaaurita.html Aurelia in Bermuda]
* [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Aurelia_aurita.html Animal Diversity Web: Aurelia aurita]
* [http://www.tolweb.org/treehouses/?treehouse_id=3373 Tree of Life: Aurelia aurita life cycle]
* [http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=135306 World Register of Marine Species: Aurelia aurita]
* [http://thescyphozoan.ucmerced.edu/ Scyphozoan Jellyfish]