STAUROMEDUSAE UK

An online guide to the Stalked jellyfish (Stauromedusae) found
around the coastal waters of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Includes notes on their identification, and where and how to find them.

Haliclystus octoradiatus (Lamarck, 1816) - Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish*

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Images from Cornwall

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- orange / on Eelgrass 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- orange / on Eelgrass 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- orange / on Eelgrass 3

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- orange / on Eelgrass 4

Images above taken on Zostera marina, at Long Rock, near Penzance, Cornwall. 07.05.12.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- at Cape Cornwall 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- at Cape Cornwall 2

Images above taken near Cape Cornwall, West Cornwall. 21.08.13.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- at Lamorna Cove 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- at Lamorna Cove 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- at Lamorna Cove 3

Images above of species found on Ceramium sp., in front of the pier at Lamorna Cove, Lamorna, Cornwall. 08.10.13. Images are of a specimen with very few white nematocysts.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Corallina / middleshore 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Corallina / middleshore 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Corallina / middleshore 3

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- habitat 1

Images above taken of species on Coral weed, Corallina officinalis, in a shallow middleshore rockpool next to Albert Pier, Penzance, Cornwall, 14.11.11.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass / lowershore 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass / lowershore 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass / lowershore 3

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass / lowershore 4

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass / lowershore 5

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Cladostephus 1

Images above taken on tide covered lowershore, on Cladostephus spongiosus and on Zostera marina. 0.9m low tide (Newlyn); at Long Rock, near Penzance, Cornwall. 30.10.11. SW4980830930 and SW4979330927.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 3

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 4

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 5

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- on Eelgrass lowershore pool 6

Images above taken in a lowershore pool fringed with Eelgrass on an extremely low tide at Long Rock, near Penzance, Cornwall. 17.04.11. SW4983330910. The images above are of the same animal.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- green morph 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- green morph 2

Images above taken of an unusually coloured specimen found at Battery Rocks, Penzance, Cornwall. 14.10.12.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in pool Trevaunance Cove 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in pool Trevaunance Cove 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in pool Trevaunance Cove 3

Images above taken in a lowershore pool during a Porcupine Marine Natural History event at Trevaunance Cove, St. Agnes, Cornwall. 16.09.12.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in pool Nanven 1

Image above taken in a middleshore pool at Nanven, Cot Valley, near St. Just, Penwith, Cornwall. 15.09.12.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- extra anchors 1

Image above taken of species on Chondrus crispus at Battery Rocks, Penzance, Cornwall, 14.11.12. This particular specimen is unusual in that it appears to have extra anchors around its body.

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- from Hannafore Point 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- from Hannafore Point 2

Species found on Eelgrass, Zostera marina, and Ceramium species at Hannafore Point, West Looe, Cornwall, during the Marine Biological Association Bioblitz 2013. 24.06.13.

The following stalked jellyfish found in 2009 is also Haliclystus octoradiatus.

Spotted Kaleidoscope Jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in rockpool on seaweed 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in rockpool on seaweed 2

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- in rockpool / close-up 1

Images taken in a small lowershore rockpool near the rock at Crinnis Beach, Carlyon Bay, St. Austell, Cornwall. 29.05.09.

Images from the Orkney Islands

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- oral view / Orkney Islands 1

Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish
Haliclystus octoradiatus
- oral view / Orkney Islands 2

Images of Haliclystus octoradiatus taken in the Orkney Islands were kindly supplied by Penny Martin.

* I refer to the species here as the ‘’Spotted kaleidoscope jellyfish’’ because H. auricula was recently given the name ‘’Kaleidoscope jellyfish’’ in a national newspaper competition. H. octoradiatus appears to be the most common Haliclystus species around our coast, so there’s a need to draw attention to its white spotting, its nematocysts.

Stauromedusae UK - Species Account for Haliclystus octoradiatus
Please note - Page Under Construction.