(Péron and Lesueur, 1810)

Description
Umbrella usually higher than wide with pointed or dome-shaped apex; exumbrella smooth, with a circular, coronal furrow situated midway between umbrella margin and apex; jelly thick, rigid. Form of the umbrella is changing with growth [P.periphylla-umbrella ]. Sixteen pedalial thickenings, four of which are interradial marginal sense organs, with four perradial and eight adradial solid marginal tentacles in groups of three situated between; rhopalar pedalia slightly narrower than tentacular pedalia.
Stomach large, occupying whole of upper part of central dome; attached interradially to subumbrellar summit over four elongated triangular gastric septa; eight phacelli, one along each side of triangular gastric septa, each with 140+ simple gastric filaments, in total more than 1,120. Manubrium with four broad perradial thickenings, not extending beyond umbrella margin.
The eight gonads forming four long U-shaped groups looping across the lower 2/3 of the bell, straddling interradial septa; each gonad with horizontal folds directed outwards.

Size
Umbrella up to 35 cm in height, 25 cm wide.

Colour
Stomach and manubrium deep reddish brown to brownP.periphylla-habitus; exumbrella and subsurface-tissues colourless.

Ecology
Medusae can be found throughout the year.

Depth range
Seems to have a diel migration range of at least 500 m; maximum recorded depth is 2,700 m (Russell, 1970a), but also found at the surface in high latitudes and the Mediterranean.

Distribution in the North Sea
Northern North Sea, off Bergen (Norway), also in Skagerrak.

World distribution
Cosmopolitan with a wide distribution in the Atlantic, except the Arctic.

Remark
Polypoid stage absent.

[After Russell, 1970a; Russell, 1976]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Scyphozoa
Class Scyphomedusae
Order Coronatae
Family Periphyllidae
Genus Periphylla
Species Periphylla periphylla

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Periphylla periphylla (Péron & Lesueur, 1810)

Sorry, there are no scientific synonyms and common names available for this species

Fraser, J.H., 1972. The distribution of the Medusae in the Scottish area. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (B) 74(1): 1-25.

Hay, S.J., J.R.G. Hislop and A.M. Shanks, 1990. North Sea Scyphomedusae: Summer distribution, estimated biomass and significance particularly for 0-group gadoid fish. Neth. J. Sea Res., 25(1-2): 113-130.

Russell, F.S., 1970a. The medusae of the British Isles. II. Pelagic Scyphozoa; with a supplement to the first volume on hydromedusae. Cambridge University Press 283 pp.

Russell, F.S., 1976. Scyphomedusae of the North Atlantic. Order: Coronatae. Families: Atollidae, Nausithoidae, Paraphyllinidae, Periphyllidae. Fiches d'Identification du Zooplancton, 152 (1976). Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Kopenhagen.

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