Gosse, 1853
Description
Umbrella saucer-shaped, thick in centre, gradually thinning towards margin.
Stomach about half width of disc. Radial canals 60-100; gonads extending along almost their entire length.
Tentacles more than three times as numerous as radial canals; with a few small marginal bulbs. Tentacle bulbs elongate, slightly laterally compressed, with excretory papillae [A.vitrina-margin ]. Statocysts usually 1-2 between successive radial canals, each with 2-4 concretions. [After Kramp, 1961, and Russell, 1970b].
Size
Diameter of umbrella in adult 100-170 mm.
Colour
Appearance reportedly violet-blue fluorescent (Hamond, 1957).
Ecology
Reproductive season: the medusa has been recorded in nearly all months in British waters (Russell, 1953a).
Depth range
Probably coastal.
Distribution in the North Sea
Known occasionally from Belgium (Rappé, 1989), W off Jutland and Helgoland.
World distribution
Probably widespread around the British Isles; like Aequorea forskalea, sparse around mainland Scotland (Fraser, 1972).
[After Cornelius, 1995a]