A common visitor to New Zealand’s beaches in summer is the moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita). It has a transparent, bell-shaped body filled with a jelly-like material, and a fringe of tentacles. The large specimen shown here is mature, indicated by the sex organs that appear as cloudy circles within its body. This individual is surrounded by bits from other moon jellyfish that have died and started to decompose.
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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Melanie Lovell-Smith
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