Rhizostoma pulmo   (Macri, 1778)

Barrel jellyfish
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Rhizostoma pulmo

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Scyphozoa | Rhizostomeae | Rhizostomatidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Pelagic; depth range 0 - 40 m (Ref. 122800).  Subtropical; 46°N - 30°N, 5°W - 42°E (Ref. 121705)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Mediterranean and Black Sea: from Alboran Sea to Libya in the Mediterranean, east to Russia and north to Ukraine, Black Sea.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 12 - 15 cm Max length : 90.0 cm WD male/unsexed; (Ref. 358); common length : 60.0 cm WD male/unsexed; (Ref. 358)

Short description Morphology

Diameter of about 60 cm, exceptionally 90 cm. The sunshade is very bent, sometimes even higher than broad; the periphery is deprived of tentacles, replaced by approximately 80-90 lobes distributed on the entire circumference. One counts 8 very long oral; only braided arms towards their base; and comprising with milonguor of the appendices dermic in the cauliflower shape, while the ends smooth and are not ramified. Color: blue; yellow or pink milky; blue lobes ombrellaires with purple darker.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Largest in the Mediterranean, is rather not very irritant: the cnidocytes are slightly poisonous and do not transpierce the human skin; there is thus no risk of lesion. Euryhaline species (Ref. 122857). Found in a river estuary (Ref. 122860) and coastal lagoons (Refs. 81044, 122857). Abundant inshore but also found offshore (Ref. 122861).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Members of the class Scyphozoa are gonochoric. Life cycle: Egg is laid by the adult medusa which later develops into a free-living planula, then to a scyphistoma to a strobila, and lastly to a free-living young medusa.

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Göthel, H. 1992. (Ref. 358)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
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Tools

E-book | Field guide

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Common names
Synonyms
Predators
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Morphology
Larvae
Abundance
References
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=3.76).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): High vulnerability (56 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.