Spotted jelly: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the spotted jelly lives – recorded in 5 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Mastigias papua
Group	Jellyfish, corals & anemones
Found in	5 countries
Continents	Asia, Oceania
Class	Cnidarian
Order	Rhizostomeae
Family	Mastigiidae

Where does the spotted jelly live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the spotted jelly in 5 countries and territories across Asia 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 spotted jelly?

The spotted jelly (Mastigias papua) is a cnidarian in the order Rhizostomeae and the family Mastigiidae, genus Mastigias. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the spotted jelly

The spotted jelly (Mastigias papua), lagoon jelly, golden medusa, or Papuan jellyfish, is a species of jellyfish from the Indo-Pacific oceans. Like corals, sea anemones, and other sea jellies, it belongs to the phylum Cnidaria, which possess stinging cells called cnidocytes. Mastigias papua is one of the numerous marine animals living in symbiosis with zooxanthellae, photosynthetic algae within the animal's tissues.

A number of Mastigias populations referred to this species were isolated to various marine lakes in prehistory, and these isolated populations underwent various adaptations, such as the loss of their ability to sting.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Spotted jelly (revision 1350441291), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q140409 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).