Phacellophora camtschatica, commonly known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish in the family Ulmaridae. It has a bell up to 2 feet in diameter and 16 clusters of up to a few dozen tentacles, each up to 20 feet long.
This cool-water species can be found in many parts of the world’s oceans. It feeds mostly on smaller jellyfish and other gelatinous zooplankton, which become ensnared in the tentacles. Because the sting of this jellyfish is so weak, many small crustaceans, including larval crabs and amphipods, regularly ride on its bell and even steal food from its oral arms and tentacles.
Photos above by Tom Thai and by and by on flickr.
Cotylorhiza tuberculata, seen below, is a smaller species of jellyfish often found in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also commonly called the fried egg jellyfish. Photo by Andreas März.
