(Keferstein and Ehlers, 1861)

Description
Umbrella apically with thick flat lens-shaped jelly, jelly thinner in distal portion [S.corona-habitus ]; margin with up to 35 (or more?) rectangular lappets, about twice as long as broad; otoporpae absent; velum well-developed. Peripheral canal system absent.
Manubrial pouches absent, periphery of manubrium circular and unbroken, covering whole lower surface of lens-shaped portion of umbrella; mouth simple, circular.
Simple annular gonads surrounding manubrium.
Up to 35 (or more) stiff solid marginal tentacles; leaving umbrella at level of periphery of manubrium. [S.corona-b/w ] Marginal lappets usually with 2 statocysts mounted on large cushion with long bristles.

Size
Umbrella 12-15 mm wide.

Colour
Whole medusa usually colourless except for statocyst concretions. Marginal tentacles red or yellow; gonads rose-coloured; statocyst concretions yellowish or rose.

Ecology and depth range
Holopelagic; epipelagic.

Distribution in the North Sea
Reported from the English Channel and the northern North Sea, where it is present as a result of Atlantic drift; carried to the southern Norwegian coast in the autumn when the Atlantic Current increases in volume and velocity.

World distribution
North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea; E South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans.

Remark
Polyp stage absent

[After Russell, 1953a; Russell, 1981b; Kramp, 1959; Bouillon, 1999]

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Superclass Hydrozoa
Class Leptolida
Subclass Narcomedusae
Family Solmaridae
Genus Solmaris
Species Solmaris corona

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Solmaris corona (Keferstein & Ehlers, 1861)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Aegineta corona | Keferstein and Ehlers, 1861

Bouillon, J., 1999. Hydromedusae. In: D. Boltovskoy (ed.), South Atlantic Zooplankton, Vol. 1. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 385-465.

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.

Kramp, P.L. and D. Damas, 1925. Les Méduses de la Norvège. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk naturhistorisk Forening i København 80: 217-323.

Kramp, P.L., 1959. The hydromedusae of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent waters. Dana Report 46: 1-283; 2 plates, 335 text figures.

Russell, F.S., 1953a. The medusae of the British Isles. Anthomedusae, Leptomedusae, Limnomedusae, Trachymedusae, and Narcomedusae. Cambridge University Press, 530 pp. 319 figures, 35 plates.

Russell, F.S., 1981b. Narcomedusae. Families Aeginidae, Solmaridae, Cuninidae. Fiches d'Identification du Zooplancton, 166 (1981). Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, Kopenhagen.

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