Blue Blubber Jellyfish
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Spotted Jelly

Like other jellies, the spotted jelly will also use its stinging oral arms to collect food while moving through the water column.  Those stinging oral arms also deter potential predators.  In fact, the only known predator of this jelly is one species of sea anemone. 

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Physical Characteristics

  • Bell is translucent greenish-blue to olive green with white and yellow spots

  • Oral arms are frilled and approximately the same size as the radius of the bell

  • Multiple mouths are located on each of the oral arms

The spotted jelly is a solitary species of sea jelly that has a unique relationship with a symbiotic zooxanthella.  These zooxanthellae live protected within the tissue of the jelly and provide the jelly with the majority of their energy source (approximately 70%).  In order to help the zooxanthellae photosynthesize and create the energy it needs, the spotted jelly will follow the sun during the day. 

The spotted jelly population has not been evaluated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  As a result, the current status of the population is unknown. 

  • Size

    1 to 4 inches (3 to 8 centimeters)

  • Diet

    Phytoplankton, zooplankton, tiny invertebrates and microbes

  • Range

    Western Pacific Ocean, from Oceania through East Asia

  • CONSERVATION STATUS

    Not Evaluated