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Given today’s many views on an article from a while ago: Purple Luminous Jellyfish – Pelagia noctiluca, we’re publishing today’s meeting with the infamous Purple Jellyfish. On other occasions we were able to get closer to the jellyfish and film it much closer. As you can see today it wasn’t really the case since our jellyfish had completely outward stinging tentacles, and as you can see in the video dangerously almost a meter long.
Medusa viola Mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca intotheblue.it
We are in summer and, as always, the Medusa viola, Pelagia noctiluca, can be the cause of painful encounters, from its umbrella these thin eight long retractable tentacles develop, very stinging and semi-transparent, which start from the edges and can extend up to 2 meters. As you can see, the jellyfish is almost transparent and so are the tentacles so sometimes, once sighted, it’s already too late. So in the summer it is better to swim with goggles or a diving mask to avoid running into the Pelagia noctiluca which is still a beautiful jellyfish to observe and film.
Mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca Medusa viola intotheblue.it
Pelagia noctiluca, in English has many names: Mauve stinger, Purple-striped jelly, Purple stinger, Purple people eater, Purple jellyfish, Luminous jellyfish, Night-light jellyfish, some even quite alarming (Purple people eater) .
Purple jellyfish is a jellyfish of the Pelagiidae family. It is common in the Mediterranean Sea and in the eastern Atlantic Ocean up to the North Sea; it has been mentioned in the chronicles for its abundance in our seas in some periods and for the painful irritations it causes if touched. It is a pelagic species, but in autumn and spring it approaches the coast.
Description
Pinkish-brown or violet-pink umbrella of about 10 centimeters in diameter, translucent, composed of 16 lobes from which 8 long retractable tentacles depart, very stinging and semi-transparent, which start from the edges and can extend up to 2 metres. The oral arms, the same color as the umbrella, are up to about 30 centimeters long.
The attribution of the genus noctiluca (from the Latin) as it emits flashes (bioluminescence) of greenish light, visible above all at night.
Mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca Medusa viola intotheblue.it
Biology
Diet
It feeds on plankton and small fishes which it catches through its tentacles equipped with stinging nematocysts.
Reproduction
P. noctiluca is one of the jellyfish that does not pass through the polypoid stage during maturation. The adults have separate sexes: the female lays her eggs in the sea, which are fertilized by the males’ sperm. The planula is born from the zygote, a larva equipped with cilia for movement and which disperses at a planktonic level. However, it does not go through the scifistoma stage, anchoring itself to the ground, but divides directly into ephyra, a young jellyfish which will then grow to form the adult jellyfish.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagia_noctiluca
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagia_noctiluca
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