The Purple Nettle Jellyfish

Bloody Bill

Article Category: Bloody Bill 2 Comments

Pelagia noctiluca, the Purple Nettle Jellyfish, aka “The Mauve Stinger”

First of all, this one goes out to Grandma Betty. Ya’ll think I’m a crazy handful, but you should meet this badass grandma. You made me what I am today, Grandma, and without your faith in me, I wouldn’t be the nice upstanding member of society I am today. Happy Birthday, Grandma. I love ya!

Now there aren’t many sea critters that I haven’t seen from our area, but the other day something was brought into my laboratory that I haven’t seen in twenty-something years of living here. I wish I could tell you that it was some incredibly awesome fish with huge fangs that I battled for hours before finally conquering it in a bloody climax while fighting pirates. Sadly though, this was not the case.

I tried desperately to identify this small jellyfish. I made calls to colleagues at our main lab, all specialists in this field of which I am merely a novice. I madly looked for any information from the resources I had at my disposal, I investigated known species in the database of the Smithsonian Field Laboratory… all to no avail. I had seen something that had really excited me for the first time in many, many months. I had to find an answer.

Initially identified by the most awesome Dr. Jynessa, tentatively confirmed by Dr. Bronson, and with information provided by Shawna Landers, we believed we had an answer. After much consideration, it was generally agreed upon by most of us at our laboratory, me included, to be Pelagia noctiluca, the purple nettle jellyfish, or mauve stinger.

This was a new one in my book, and I got excited. You may say it’s not a big deal, but for me it was. I’ve always liked inverts (both the critters and the skating move).

The mauve stinger is a small species, with a bell barely reaching six inches across. It is a unique looking species, with a clear bell and purplish striations radiating out from the center. It has relatively short, compact tentacles reaching out from its main body that hide its true nature. I picked this thing up and to be honest, it kinda lit me up for its size. I liken it to a mellow man-o-war in its zap factor.

the mauve stinger is quite common in the waters surrounding Bermuda and has been reported in Ireland, England, and the Mediterranean, as well as the Gulf. This species really is hard to figure out. For real. No one really knows why they come and go, or why they show up where they do. They seem to show up in swarms, and this is most likely due to mating habits. Like most jellies, they seem to drift on the currents, but they can move around a bit. Feeding seems to be an opportunistic affair for these creatures, and whatever seems to get caught up in their tentacles seems to suit them just fine.

This is about the most I can give ya’ll on this species; like I said, I don’t know much about them. All I know is that they hurt when you touch ‘em. Take care and watch out! Cool critters are showing up all the time; you never know when you’ll see a new one!

Mahalo,

Bloody Bill

For more information visit:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2579739/

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