The Pacific Sea Nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) is a marine (saltwater) planktonic scyphozoan in the phylum Cnidaria of jellyfish. It is also called the West Coast Sea Nettle.

The Pacific Sea Nettle has a golden-brown bell-shaped dome with a reddish tint. From the bell, there are 24 long reddish tentacles and long white, spiral-shaped, oral arms. It has light sensing organs called ocelli. 

The bell-shaped part of the Pacific Sea Nettle can grow to about 100 metres (39 inches) wide. The reddish tentacles can grow to 460 centimetres (180 inches) long.

It is native to the coastal areas of the eastern Pacific Oean, from Canada to Mexico.

The Pacific Sea Nettle is carnivorous, eating zooplankton, crabs, shrimps, marine snails, small fish, and other jellyfish. The toxic barbed stingers in its reddish tentacles are used to kill its prey by paralysis. The white oral arms take the prey to its mouth for digestion.

Its predators include marine birds and large fish.

It moves by jet propulsion. It squeezes the bell shape and pushes water behind it. At other times, it floats with the currents. 

The female Pacific Sea Nettle holds her eggs in her white oral arms, where they grow into flower-shaped polyps. The polyps are released into the ocean and attach themselves to solid surfaces. The polyps bud to form new polyps. The polyps undergo metamorphosis and grow a bell, arms, and tentacles. The adult phase is called a medusa. 

[Location of photographs:Aquarium de Paris-Cinéaqua, France]

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM