Mediterranean Jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata

The Mediterranean Jellyfish, also called and looking like the Fried Egg Jellyfish, is native to the Mediterranean, including the Adriatic and Aegean Seas.

It grows to 20-40cm across. Apart from its bell looking like a yellow egg yolk surrounded by cooked egg white, its tentacles have small violet baubles at the ends. The sting is mild to most people.

Large swarms can develop in late summer. Diet is plankton. Their larval, polyp and medusa life stages are similar to other jellyfish. Their cell development and ability to regenrate damaged parts is being studied for human cancer treatments. (Another Jellyfish, the Egg Yolk Jellyfish, Phacellophora camtschatica, of the northern Pacific is also sometimes called the Fried Egg Jellyfish and also has a bell resembling a fried egg. It is larger than the Mediterranean Jellyfish and doesn't have the purple adornments.)