Pelagia noctiluca: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Pelagia noctiluca lives – recorded in 15 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Pelagia noctiluca
Group	Jellyfish, corals & anemones
Found in	15 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania
Class	Cnidarian
Order	Semaeostomeae
Family	Pelagiidae

Where does the Pelagia noctiluca live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Pelagia noctiluca in 15 countries and territories across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the Pelagia noctiluca?

The Pelagia noctiluca (Pelagia noctiluca) is a cnidarian in the order Semaeostomeae and the family Pelagiidae, genus Pelagia. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Pelagia noctiluca

Pelagia noctiluca is a jellyfish in the family Pelagiidae and the only currently recognized species in the genus Pelagia. It is typically known in English as the mauve stinger, but other common names are purple-striped jelly (causing potential confusion with Chrysaora colorata), purple stinger, purple people eater, purple jellyfish, luminous jellyfish and night-light jellyfish. In Greek, pelagia means "(she) of the sea", from pelagos "sea, open sea"; in Latin noctiluca is the combining form of nox, "night", and lux, "light"; thus, Pelagia noctiluca can be described as a marine organism with the ability to glow in the dark (bioluminescence). It is found worldwide in tropical and warm temperate seas, although it is suspected that records outside the North Atlantic region, which includes the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico, represent closely related but currently unrecognized species.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Pelagia noctiluca (revision 1368887178), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q1354572 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).